The Visitor
by Scooter88
Summary: A rewrite of Season 5 starting with Joyce's surgery. This is the way I wish Season 5 had played out! Please Read and Review! Feedback is greatly appreciated. Rating just to be safe...
1. Chapter 1

The Visitor – Chapter One

_I hate hospitals._ Buffy thought miserably as she splashed cool water on her face. The cramped and sterile interior of her mother's hospital room made her skin crawl and Buffy had jumped at the first chance to escape when Joyce had finally fallen asleep, making her way to the equally cramped and sterile bathroom down the hall.

As she walked back to her mother's room, Buffy thought over the day's events. Joyce's surgery went off without a hitch and the Summer's matriarch was expected to make a full and smooth recovery. Only an hour or so after surgery (a time which seemed infinitely longer to those who loved her) Joyce was awake and lucid, insisting that Buffy take Dawn home and get herself something to eat with the Scoobies.

After assuring that Tara and Willow would stay with Dawn until morning, the Slayer returned to Sunnydale General to spend the night at her mother's side. To say that Buffy was surprised to find a bouquet of fresh yellow roses displayed on Joyce's bedside table upon her return would be an understatement. When questioned about the beautiful flowers though, Joyce insisted that they were nothing more than a "Get Well" present from a _friend_ and no amount of needling or pestering (not even Buffy's patented pout) could convince her to reveal her _friend's_ identity.

_It's probably that Brian guy, the one mom met at the gallery and she's just embarrassed to talk about it. _Buffy thought, once again pondering who the mysterious rose giver could be.

Buffy was pull from her musings when she reached her mother's door and heard voices coming from the room. Peering around the doorjamb, she was relieved to see that it was only two nurses chatting quietly as they moved around Joyce's room making their rounds. She was about to make her presence known when she caught a strain of the nurses' conversation. Figuring that a little eavesdropping would do no harm to anyone, Buffy quickly ducked back out of sight.

"These are pretty." The older of the two women – who looked remarkably like Sunnydale High's old school nurse - said as she brushed her palm over one of Joyce's roses.

"Yeah," the younger woman, who Buffy recognized as the nurse who had attended to Joyce earlier in the evening, replied wistfully as she checked the various charts at the end of the adjustable hospital bed, "she is one lucky lady."

"What makes you say that? They're just flowers, what's so lucky about _flowers_?" The older nurse questioned.

"You didn't see the guy who brought her those _flowers_, did you Donna?" The younger nurse retorted. The other nurse, who Buffy now knew was named Donna and who seemed to be simply monitoring what her younger counterpart was doing, shook her head negatively. "Well I did when he popped in to drop those roses off. And any woman who lands a man that looks like he does is lucky."

Now Buffy was intrigued. Her mother had talked about Brian on a few occasions, but she had never alluded to the fact that he was even remotely drool worthy. And when Buffy asked for a description, Joyce had simply said that Brian was "nice looking."

"What was so special about him, Janie?" Donna asked. She was standing idly by the side of the bed, absentmindedly playing with one of the roses' petals while her coworker tinkered with one of the many beeping machines placed around the room.

"Well, I don't think he wanted anyone to see him for one thing, 'cause he waited until all her other visitors left before he snuck in here. Plus, he had that whole 'bad boy' thing going for him, you know what I mean?" At Donna's blank look, Nurse Janie elaborated. "He was wearin' all black: black boots, black jeans, black tee-shirt. Plus, he had on this long black leather coat that hung down past his knees."

_Bad boy thing? What? _Buffy was perplexed. _Since when has mom liked bad boys?_ An unwanted image of Joyce lying sprawled on a cop car next to a greaser-styled Giles popped into the Slayer's head before she could stop it. _Oh right, _she groused,_ my mother's always liked bad boys._

"That doesn't sound too extraordinary to me," Donna interjected, drawing Buffy's attention back to the pair in the room with Joyce, "it sounds like he's some kind of hood."

"Trust me, this guy was no hood. He was way too gorgeous. All high cheekbones and toned biceps." Nurse Janie's eyes glazed over as she reminisced about Joyce's visitor. "Oh, and he had the sexiest blue eyes I've ever seen."

_High cheekbones and sexy blue eyes?_ Buffy thought. _Maybe I should ask mom if this guy has a brother!_ Buffy was so lost in her own ruminations that it took her a moment to realize that her mother's attendants had started talking again.

"Sounds like you're in love." Donna said, chuckling at the slightly dazed expression on Janie's face.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Janie asked as she adjusted Joyce's bed.

"The way you're talking about this guy, you sound like you're in love."

"Actually, aside from his drop dead gorgeousness, he wasn't really my type." Janie finished fiddling with the bed controls and stepped back to check her handiwork.

"Oh really?" Donna questioned disbelievingly.

"Yes 'oh really'." Janie replied huffily. "He was pale and had blonde hair. And I'm talkin' bright blonde, like he bleached it or something. I prefer my men tall, dark, and tan."

_Wait a second…_Something about Nurse Janie's description of her mother's mystery visitor was tickling at the back of Buffy's brain. _A pale, bleached blonde guy with blue eyes and who was wearing all black clothing…Why does that sound familiar…_

"SPIKE!" Buffy said out loud, startling the two nursed who had been oblivious to her presence outside the door.

"I'm sorry, miss. Visiting hours are over for tonight, but you can come back tomorrow if you like." Nurse Donna said kindly once she recovered from her initial shock.

"It's alright, Donna. This is Mrs. Summer's daughter, she's staying here tonight." Janie moved to stand next to the older women. She turned to address Buffy directly, "We'll get out of your hair now, Miss Summers."

For a moment Buffy stood completely still, trying to process the fact that Spike - evil, soulless, pain-in-her-ass Spike – had brought her mother roses. _Actually, _she reasoned, _he probably stole the flowers. Or maybe it wasn't even Spike at all. Who knows how many bleached blonde, blue-eyed guys dressed all in black there are running around the Hellmouth?_ It wasn't until the other two conscious occupants of the room moved towards the door that the Slayer snapped out of her daze.

"Wait!" Buffy called when she realized the only witness to Spike's supposed visit was about to leave the room. "The man, the one who brought my mom the roses…did he have a British accent?" Janie looked confused for a moment before Buffy's question seemed to register in the nurse's mind.

"I don't know." Janie said confusedly. "I think he must be really shy 'cause the poor thing clammed up as soon as I came into the room."

"Did…Did you happen to hear anything my mom said to him?" Buffy asked, desperate to know why Spike would be paying a visit to her recovering mother. Janie hesitated briefly, clearly not wanting to seem as though she'd been eavesdropping on Joyce's conversation.

"Well," she began haltingly, "I did hear her asking him to promise her something."

"Promise her what?" Buffy spared a quick glace to her sleeping mother, wondering what her she could possibly need a soulless vamp to make a promise about.

"She asked him to protect you and your sister, asked him to promise that he wouldn't leave Sunnydale no matter what you said to him. She told him that you…that you needed him even if you'd never admit it."

"Oh," Buffy said softly, "Thank-you."

"You're welcome, Miss Summers. And I really didn't mean to listen in…" Janie trailed off uncertainly, confused by the perplexed look on Buffy's face.

"That's alright." Buffy said distractedly, "No harm done, right?" The nurses made their exits, leaving Buffy alone with her thoughts.

_Mom thinks I need Spike?_ She wondered, settling onto the small cot the hospital provided for her stay. _Why would I ever need Spike? So he stayed with me after I found out mom was sick, that doesn't mean anything. Anyone could have comforted me, Spike was just convenient…right?_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N – This story isn't really going to be AU, but it's not an episode-by-episode rewrite either. It is definitely Spuffy though!  I don't see this fic being anymore than 10 chapters long, but my muse could make a liar of me.

DISCLAIMER – I forgot to do this in the first chapter…oops! I really wish that I owned Buffy, but alas, I don't. I'm just a poor college student so please don't sue!

The Visitor – Chapter 2

Between the uncomfortable hospital cot and her jumbled thoughts about annoying British vamps who ingrained themselves in her life and refused to leave (plus one very vivid, very erotic, and very disturbing dream starring said annoying British vampire), sleep had been allusive to Buffy. The lack of rest combined with the emotional roller coaster of the last few weeks was finally taking its toll, resulting in one exhausted Slayer.

The house was quiet when Buffy entered. _Dawnie must still be asleep_, she thought idly as she headed up the stairs, intent on curling up in her own bed for a few hours before returning with Dawn to the hospital.

"Stupid Spike," she mumbled as she moved towards her sister's room, "why didn't I just dust him when I had the chance?" Imagine her surprise when she opened Dawn's door only to find the bleached demon asleep in the chair by her kid sister's bed.

"SPIKE!!" If she hadn't been so shocked and confused by his presence in her home, Buffy might've found the Brit falling sideways off his perch and landing in a sprawling heap of black leather to be hilarious. Her confusion only grew when, after sparring a somehow still slumbering Dawn a quick glance, Spike hopped up from the floor the floor and hurried the perplexed young woman out of the room and into the hall.

"Shhh! Keep it down, Slayer," he said as he pulled the door softly closed behind them, "or you'll wake up the Bit."

"What? Why are you here? Spike, why were you asleep in 'the Bit's' room?" It seemed that once the questions started pouring out of her, Buffy couldn't staunch the flow. "On that note, why did you visit my mother in the hospital? What's with the…," Spike's hand clamping down around her mouth, however, quite effectively shut her up.

She fought to stay still, not wanting him to see the shiver that ran down her spine when his skin came in contact with her own. Her senses immediately scattered, thoughts flying in all different directions. _What's wrong with me? First I'm dreaming about him and now I'm actually letting him touch me…and I like it?_

For a moment Spike was surprised at the Slayer's relative lack of struggle as he covered her mouth. He'd expected her to punch him in the nose at least but she offered no resistance, opting instead to stare questioningly up at him with her large hazel eyes.

"First of all," he started, keeping his palm in place to prevent interruptions, "the Bit pulled a runner, skipped out on the lovers Wicca, and showed up at my crypt last night. After she cried on my shoulder for a bit, I brought her back and that's why I'm here now. She didn't want me to leave, but I only meant to stay until she fell asleep. I must've been more knackered than I thought." He paused, trying to marshal his thoughts. "And your mum…your mums a nice lady, Pet. I just wanted to make sure she came through her surgery alright."

He gingerly removed his hand as if he expected an explosion, but Buffy simply stared at him briefly before turning to walk back downstairs. After a moment of indecision, Spike followed.

"Is that it?" He asked as he trailed her into the kitchen, making sure to keep safely out of staking distance. "No 'you're evil Spike, stay away from my family' or 'I'll be turning you into a big pile of dust now'?"

"Nope, threats don't seem to work with you so I've decided to try talking to you rationally. Now sit." Buffy nodded towards one of the stools at the counter, sitting on the other one herself.

"Ahhh, I see," he said as he sat across from her, "you've opted for torture."

"Shut up, Spike." Buffy struggled to hide the upturn at the corners of her mouth, refusing to let him make her laugh.

The fact that sitting in her kitchen with the bleached vamp felt so normal, so…right was utterly disconcerting. If she was completely honest with herself, though, Buffy hadn't exactly _hated_ Spike for awhile. Sometimes he didn't even annoy her that much when he forced his company on her. She was pretty sure that Riley had noticed her changing feelings for the blonde Brit too.

Lately it seemed that all of their arguments revolved around her supposed attraction to all things with fangs. Riley would bring up her relationship with Angel and then rant for awhile about how hard she didn't fight against Dracula's thrall.

Buffy would harp on his continued relations with the Initiative and his misguided notion that she needed a man to protect her. Then somehow the couple would move to the topic of Spike and Riley would list all of the reasons Buffy should have dusted the master vamp but hadn't.

_I definitely need to talk to him about his vamp inferiority issues_, she noted as she rubbed mindlessly at a stain on the Formica.

"Slayer," Spike said, grabbing her wrist to catch her attention, "we were supposed to be talking rationally, remember?"

"Oh, right…sorry." _Did I just apologize to him…_

"Did you just apologize to me?" Spike looked thoroughly perplexed, if not a little pleased. "What's with you today, Slayer?"

"What do you mean? There's nothing 'with' me, I'm completely not of the 'with'."

"It's just…first you didn't stake me when you found me sleeping in Niblet's room, then you didn't fight me when I covered your mouth upstairs to shut you up, and now _you're_ apologizing to _me_." He stared at her, narrowing his eyes as though trying to see what was going on in her blonde head. "Are you very stoned or have I fallen into an alternate dimension 'cause that alternate dimension thing entirely possible."

"No," she began, "not stoned. And the last time I checked we were still in our own dimension. It's just…well, my mom and Dawn seem to like you for some reason so I figured I'd try the whole talking thing before I reduced you to nothing more than so much trouble for a Dust Buster."

"Oh, thanks for that then." He said, finally releasing her wrist. "I do enjoy being undead instead of just…dead."

"Yeah so, about that whole 'my-mom-and-younger-sister-think-your-keen' thing…why is that? Why did my little sister go running to you last night when she was upset? Willow and Tara were here, she could have come to them."

Spike opened his mouth to respond just as the sound of the front door opening caught their attention.

"Buffy?" Riley called from the living room. "You've really gotta stop just leaving the door unlocked, it's not safe. All sorts of nasties could just walk right in…" The former Iowa farm boy stopped dead at the sight of one such "nasty" sitting in the Summer's kitchen. "What's he doing here? Buffy?"

The Slayer almost quelled under the only slightly controlled rage rolling off Riley in waves. Only one thought cycling through her head as she stood to face her boyfriend. _Crap…_


	3. Chapter 3

A/N – I'm really pleased with this fic so far. I'm new to this whole "writing fanfiction" thing so I really appreciate reviews and feedback! Thanks!

A/N #2 – This chapter is a little more angst than the last two and a couple parts gave me some difficulty when I was writing them, so please review and tell me what you think!

DISCLAIMER: I'm still a poor History major and I still don't own Buffy…sigh.

The Visitor – Chapter 3

"Buffy?" Dawn wandered into the kitchen, automatically moving to Spike's side as he squared of with Riley. "What's going on?"

"Nothing Dawnie," Buffy said from her spot between the two posturing males, "nothing's going on, right boys?" She was surprised when Spike, who the Slayer had never seen back down from any sort of conflict, threw her sister a quick smile and visibly softened his stance.

"Alright Niblet? D'you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for staying last night." Dawn smiled so brightly as the vamp that Buffy thought it might be enough to dust him.

"How 'bout some brekkie then? Your mum said she got some more chocolate chips. I could make you those chocolate pancakes you like."

"Ooh, with strawberry syrup?" Dawn cooed happily when the vampire nodded, pulling an indulgent looking Spike (while carefully avoiding the sunny rays pouring in from the window) over to the stove.

"Buffy?" Riley looked as though someone had punched him in the gut. He watched with varying degrees of disgust and anger as Spike moved expertly around the Summers' kitchen gathering pancake ingredients while Dawnie nattered on to him about some trivial adolescent drama. "Has he done this before?"

"No…" the Slayer began, trying to counter the accusation in her boyfriend's tone, only to be interrupted by her oblivious sister.

"Only a couple of times." The younger Summers' girl said as she retrieved a bag of chocolate chips from the cabinet. "And once he made me and mom dinner when she wasn't feeling well. Who knew a British guy could cook Italian food?"

"WHAT?" Riley caught Dawn's arm as she pranced in front of him, yanking her roughly around the face him. "He did what?"

Before Buffy could even make a move to extract her sister from Riley's grip, Spike had already crossed the length of the kitchen and pulled Dawn away from the ex-soldier.

"If you ever touch so much as a hair on the Bit's head again," Spike said as he faced off with Buffy's decidedly larger boyfriend, "I'll risk the migraine and kill you faster than you can shuck an ear of corn, White Bread."

Just briefly Buffy caught a glimpse of the old Spike, the Spike before the government-issued chip and she suddenly remembered what the master vamp was capable of if provoked.

"Riley, lets go talk on the front porch." She said forcefully, leaving no room for argument. Riley stood his ground for only a moment longer before his shoulders slumped and he left the kitchen. Buffy turned to check on Dawn, but was once again beaten by Spike who was speaking lowly to the younger girl while running his hand over the red mark on her arm.

_So much for Slayer speed_, she mused. They didn't even notice as she turned and followed Riley's path through front of the house.

"Why the fuck is he here again, Buffy?" Riley started as soon as she walked outside. "First he's staying all night to comfort you about your mom being sick when you didn't even bother to tell me, your _boyfriend_, that anything was wrong. And now you're letting him babysit your baby sister?"

"I'm not letting Spike do anything," Buffy defended, "Willow and Tara stayed with Dawn last night. Spikes here because Dawnie wants him here. I guess she got a little upset last night and showed up at his crypt…"

"But why, Buffy?" Riley interrupted. "Why does she think its okay to cry on some monster's shoulder? And why is your mom comfortable enough with him that he cooks dinner for your family? Is it something that runs in your family, this _thing_ you have for vampires?"

"I've already told you a dozen times," Buffy said through gritted teeth, "I don't have a _thing_ for Spike!" Riley simply stared blankly at her before dropping wearily to sit on the porch step.

"I wasn't talking about Spike, just vamps in general. You're the one with William the Bloody on the brain."

"Oh God," she uttered, sinking down to sit beside him, "would you listen to yourself? Why are you so threatened by him?"

"Why haven't you staked him yet?" He countered, his tone challenging.

"Well, thanks to your precious Initiative's chip, he's helpless and it's kind of against my moral code to kill stuff that can't fight back." Buffy could feel her anger bubbling just beneath her skin as she tried desperately to reign in her temper.

Patience was never one of the Slayer's virtues (_Something me and Spike have in common_, her traitorous mind supplied) and Riley's insistence on beating the same issues to death over and 

over again was trying on her nerves. If he didn't look so defeated, she would've just slapped some sense into him.

"I know about all your little adventures before I joined the Scoobies. There were plenty of times before the chip when you could've dusted Sir Bleach-a lot and yet, he's still…undead."

"Yeah well," Buffy replied, "there were just as many times when he could've killed me but didn't."

An awkward silence stretched between them, broken only by the sounds of Dawn's giggles drifting through the slightly ajar front door.

"The Initiative wants me back, Buffy." Riley finally spoke briskly. "They're headed for South America; I'd be stationed in the jungle somewhere."

"Why are you telling me this? It's not like you're going, right?"

"Actually," Riley stood to avoid meeting her gaze, "I haven't given them my answer yet."

"You mean you're seriously considering leaving?" Buffy was furious. How could he lay this on her shoulders when the weight of the world already rested there. "You're going to skip town when I need you the most?"

"That's the problem Buffy, you don't need me…you don't even love me." She opened her mouth to protest, but he waved her off. "The Initiative plane leaves tomorrow night at six' o'clock and if you've not given me a reason to stay by then, I'll be on it."

"So, you're giving me an ultimatum?" Angry, frustrated tears welled up in her eyes as she fought the urge to hit Riley so hard that he would still be unconscious when the Initiative plane took off the next night.

"That's not what this is, Buf…"

"No," Buffy cut him off, "that's exactly what this is Riley. Either I offer you some proof that I love you or you're gonna hop on down to the jungle to play G.I. Joe with your commando buddies."

"Buffy…" Riley began only to be cut off once again when Buffy gave into her more violent tendencies and clocked the soldier across the jaw.

"My mother had a tumor removed from her brain yesterday and you decide that now's the time to play make-or-break-it with me?" Buffy couldn't help but feel satisfied as Riley massaged his rapidly swelling jaw.

"I love you, Buffy. This isn't how this was supposed to turn out." He said through a grimace of pain.

"Oh really? How'd you think it would play out? Did you think I'd beg you to stay and we'd ride of into the sunset towards a normal, happy ending? Newsflash Riley, I'm the SLAYER! I will never be normal and if you really loved me you'd accept that fact about me instead of trying to change me all the time."

For a minute the pair just stared at each other. Buffy panting from her outburst, Riley still rubbing at the bluish bruise forming on the lower half of his face.

"Is that all you've got to say? Is that it?" Riley asked, backing down the porch steps.

"Yeah," Buffy replied, "that's it. I'm not going to ask you to stay if that's what you're looking for."

"I guess this is goodbye then." Riley headed down the rest of the drive, stopping at the end to look back up at the Summers' house.

"Goodbye, Riley."

"Goodbye, Buffy." Without looking back, Riley got in his SUV and drove away.

"Buffy?" Dawn called from behind her.

"Yeah, Dawnie?"

"The food's done. Do you want any?" With a nod, the Slayer followed her sister back into the house. In the kitchen Spike was dishing some admittedly delicious looking pancakes onto her mother's favorite plates.

"You alright, Pet?" Spike asked as he set a plate of food in front of her.

"I'm fine." She muttered, hoping that he could read the message in her eyes. She didn't want to talk about her breakup at that moment, but eventually she would need someone to vent to and since he always seemed to be around when she was miserable, it would most likely be him. "Me and Dawn are going back to the hospital in a couple of hours, d'you wanna come?"

"Of course, Pet," the vamp said as he sat across from her, "nowhere I'd rather be."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N – Hello! I hope the breakup in the last chapter was satisfactory! I never really cared for Riley, personally, but I apologize to anyone who didn't appreciate my treatment of his character.

A/N #2 – Remember, this fic is no an episode-by-episode rewrite so I might leave out some things from the show (like Riley's vamp ho's or obsessed, shrine-making Spikey) and adjust the timeline of Season 5 events slightly. Plus, it's pre-Crush so Buffy doesn't know about Spike's feelings for her. Please read and review!!

DISCLAIMER: I own the Buffy seasons on DVD, but that's about it. Everything else belongs to people much smarter (and richer) than me…so please don't sue!!

The Visitor – Chapter 4

"Please Spike?!" Dawn whined as she, Buffy and Spike walked down the darkened streets of Sunnydale. "I'm too tired to walk anymore."

"Fine," the bleached vamp conceded, "hop on." Bending his knees, he allowed the teen to clamper onto his back. After hooking his hands under her legs to ensure that she didn't fall off, the trio set off once again toward Revello Drive.

The group's visit to Sunnydale General had been relatively uneventful. Of course, there were a few insults and snide remarks bandied about between Spike and Xander when Giles and the Scoobies showed up bearing gifts and well-wishes. And there was a brief awkward moment when Tara innocently asked where Riley was and Buffy had had to explain about his abrupt departure from the Scooby ranks.

Plus, Spike had nearly given some poor intern named Ben a heartattack when the vamp growled at the young man for accidently waking a peacefully napping Dawn. But other than those isolated incidents, the visit was actually a little boring. Buffy had even managed to keep Dawnie away from the hospital psychiatric ward, assuring that no patients recognized her sister's existence as anything less than kosher.

Even though the unavoidable battle with Glory over the possession of the Key had taken a backseat in her mind in loo of her mother's ill health, the Slayer part of Buffy's brain never let her fully forget about the oncoming fight.

_Stupid sacred duty_, she thought as she trailed slightly behind her companions, _can't even catch a break when my mom has brain surgery! _Buffy was pulled from her thoughts when Spike stopped in front of her suddenly.

"What? What's there?" She asked, scanning the area for possible threats.

"I don't know," he replied, removing his hands so Dawn dropped gently back to the ground, "but it's something." He tensed and turned towards the dense foliage running along the sidewalk just as a scabby little demon in brown robes emerged from the shrubs.

"Slayer." The diminutive creature (that looked vaguely familiar to Buffy) said, taking a step towards her only to be blocked by Spike's solid, black-clad form. "There is no need for your presence here, Vampire. The Chosen One does not need your protection."

"You think I don't know that, you git?" The bleached-blonde scoffed, maneuvering to keep Dawn safely concealed behind him. "She's kicked my ass more times than I care to admit."

"What do you want?" The woman in question finally spoke. The slightly stooped figure threw Spike an appraising look before taking a hesitant step towards Buffy.

"My mistress, Glorificus, wishes me to bring you a message about the Key, Slayer."

"Oh, so that's why I recognize you…you're one of Glory's slimy little minions. Now what's this about the Key?" Buffy couldn't help but glance at Dawn as she posed her question. Luckily neither her sister nor Glory's henchman – who was to busy keeping a close eye on the only vampire in the group – noticed.

"Glorificus is a merciful Goddess and she wishes you to know that no harm will come to you or your loved ones if you simply release the Key to her." The scabby messenger jumped when Spike shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his ugly robes swishing around his feet as he skittered off of the sidewalk and into the street.

"No harm?" Buffy asked incredulously. "What about the whole 'opening-a-portal-to-a-hell-dimension' thing where a bunch of demons overrun the Earth and eat me and my loved ones."

"Ah yes, about that…," the minion began only to be cut off by an irritated Slayer.

"I'm not going to kill you but only because I want you to take a message back to your _mistress_." She said with a smile. "You tell her that she'll get her Key the day her precious hell dimension freezes over."

"But Slayer…" He risked stepping back onto the sidewalk, reaching out with his hands as though pleading.

"Sorry, but we're done here." Buffy stated, waiting for the slimy little minion to scamper off. When, after a few beats, he still stood blocking their path she turned to Spike. "I said that I wasn't going to kill him. I didn't say you couldn't."

With a vicious leer, the vamp allowed his demon visage to overtake his human features. He moved towards his potential prey which promptly squealed and ran away. Spike released a deep chuckle before he spun back around to Dawn. "Alright Bit? Ready to go home?"

"Yeah." Dawn said distractedly. She had been unusually quiet during the whole encounter. With a perplexed expression she leveled her gaze on her older sister. "Buffy, why do they think you have that Key thing."

_Shit_, the Slayer thought. "I…" she started but was saved the trouble of coming up with an explanation when Spike spoke up.

"It's 'cause she's the Slayer, Platelet. If this Key's so powerful, it only makes sense that the most powerful person around – i.e. your big sis – would have it."

"That makes sense." Dawn said, momentarily placated. When Spike once again turned and stooped before her, the younger Summers' girl retook her place on his back. "Come on, Buff," Dawn called over her shoulder as the pair headed off down the sidewalk, "let's go home."

* * *

"But why can't I stay up?" Dawn asked from the base of the stairs.

"Because you're going to school tomorrow, mom said so." Buffy responded, setting a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table and plopping down on the end of the couch.

"Spike?" Dawn called hopefully.

"No luck Bit," the vamp sighed sympathetically, "I've got no authority over you mum."

"But…" the girl tried to argue.

"Nope," Spike cut her off, "it's off to bed with you. Now go on and get a good night's sleep."

"Fine." Dawn pouted, stomping up the stairs to her room.

"How do you do that?" Buffy asked as Spike sat at the other end of the sofa.

"Do what?" He questioned, an adorably confused look on his face.

_Wait, did I just think of Spike as adorable?_ Buffy wondered. There was no denying that there was some physical attraction between the pair, an unresolved sexual tension type of thing. But adorable? There was just something too affectionate about considering a member of the opposite gender adorable and thinking of someone who was supposed to be her mortal enemy in such a manner made the Slayer uncomfortable.

The sound of his voice brought her attention back to the situation at hand.

"How do I do what, Pet?"

"Oh uh," it took her a moment to remember what they were talking about, "how do you get Dawn to just do what you say without a real fight?"

The vampire feigned consideration before stuffing a handful of buttery popcorn in his mouth and smirking at her. "I don't know," he mumbled around a mouthful of puffy kernels, "me and the Platelet just get along, I guess. Kinda like me and your mum."

"Yeah," Buffy suddenly remembered their conversation from the day before, the one Riley had interrupted, "why do you and my mom get along so well? You'd think she'd hold some kind of grudge after all the times you tried to kill me."

"Joyce and I have a lot in common." Spike said, his lips quirked in an amused smile. "We both have bad taste in daytime television shows, we both love hot chocolate and agree that her recipe is the best, and we both have a bad track record of falling in love with the wrong people."

There was an emotion in the vampire's eyes as he stared at her that Buffy couldn't quite place. It was strange, not being able to decipher Spike's feelings. Usually the pair could read each other like books, something that she had found quite annoying on several occasions as he had a nasty habit of telling her truths about herself that she wanted to avoid.

"Plus," he continued, "I am devilishly handsome with a British accent to boot. What woman could resist me?"

"Shuddup." She said through giggles, smacking him lightly on the arm. After that no more words were needed. They settled in for the night, the bowl of popcorn in between them and a bad black-and-white monster movie on TV.

_This is nice. _She thought, deciding not to dwell on the fact that it felt so nice to just relax…with her ex-nemesis. _I'll remember how wrong this is tomorrow…_


	5. Chapter 5

A/N – Howdy! Sorry, sorry, sorry about the delay in updating. I'm very happy with the way this story is progressing, but I struggled with this chapter for some reason. I know it kind of seems like the Spuffy love is moving glacially slow, but I don't think it's realistic (I know, I know…how realistic can a vampire slayer get?) for Riley to leave and Buffy just suddenly realize that she's fallen for her used-to-be mortal enemy. Anywho, there will definitely be Spuffy fluffiness eventually.

A/N #2 – I've decided to keep Joyce alive in this fic 'cause I was so very sad when she died on the show. Oh, and I've completely ignored the BuffyBot plotline too! Please read and review!

DISCLAIMER: I currently barely make minimum wage and I don't think I'll be owning anything of importance for quite some time…so please don't sue!

The Visitor – Chapter 5

"Buffy? Are you here?" Dawn yelled as she burst through the front door, slamming it closed behind her.

"I'm up here, Dawnie." Buffy called from her bedroom where she was chugging away at a mountain of homework.

The last two weeks or so had actually been relatively peaceful for the Slayer. After almost four days of observation in the hospital, her mother was discharged to finish her recovery in the comfort of her own home. With a week and a half of bed rest and generally pampering under her belt, the Summers' matriarch returned to work at the gallery and even made a date (with the mysterious Brian) for the upcoming weekend.

Another check-plus in the Buffy verse was the lack of Glory-related activity on the slaying front. She wasn't delusional enough to believe that her message to the Hellbint (as Spike called her) via the scabby minion had actually halted Glory in her search for the Key. Buffy knew that in all likelihood that the latest Big Bad was probably planning something big, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and used the precious downtime to slowly but surely catch up on her neglected schoolwork while Giles did the whole researching thing.

"Buffy, look!" Dawn careened into the room waving a slightly crumpled packet of paper in front of her. "We got our History papers back today. I got the highest grade in the entire class! Mr. Brooks said it was the most thorough history paper he'd ever seen from a student and that my grammar was 'immaculate'!"

Taking the paper from her clearly excited sister, Buffy beamed at the neatly printed 'A' at the top of the first page. "This is great, Dawnie. Mom'll probably get it framed to prove she has at least one smart kid."

"Can I go show Spike? Please? He's the one who helped me write it after all." The hyper teen was bouncing on her knees at the end of the bed, upsetting the precariously stacked textbooks placed there.

Since Riley decided to jump the Summers' ship, Spike's presence around Revello Drive had only grown. He took his promise - although Buffy hadn't mentioned that she knew about said promise - to Joyce to protect her daughters very seriously, becoming Buffy's permanent patrolling partner and helping Dawn with her homework. Plus, his mock debates with Joyce over the fates of the characters on Passions brought a much needed comic relief to Casa de Summers.

Even the jibes thrown between Spike and Xander had lost their hateful "I wish I could cause you lots of bodily harm"edge and taken on a more pleasant "I simply don't like you" tone.

"Why don't you just wait, Dawnie? He'll be here in a couple of hours for patrol, you can show him then." Buffy suggested, handing the graded paper back to her sister.

"But Buffy," Dawn complained, "can't I just go over to his crypt now? He can walk me home when he comes to get you for your patrol date."

For some reason Buffy blushed. "It's not a date, Dawn. Spike and I are just…friends." _Yeah,_ she thought_, just friends._

"Whatever. Can I go or not?"

"What about dinner?" The Slayer questioned.

"If I get hungry Spike'll get me a hamburger or something equally greasy like he always does." Dawn was already edging towards the door.

"Well…" Buffy considered, "I guess it's alright."

"Yes! Thanks, Buff." After quickly checking her appearance in the mirror, the Key turned teen sprinted from the room. "See ya later!" She called as she slammed the front door.

"Be careful!" Buffy shouted belatedly. Even though her sister spent a great deal of time at the vampire's crypt and she knew Spike would dust himself before her let anything happen to Dawn, the Slayer couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she had about this particular visit. Forcibly pushing the doubt towards the back of her mind, she once again picked up her History book and began reading about World War I.

* * *

The sound of heavy footsteps on the first floor jolted Buffy awake. _When did I fall asleep?_ She wondered, sitting up to find herself in darkness. She reached out with her senses to see who or 

what was in her home. The tingling on the back of her neck told her it was a vamp, but before she could grab the stake hidden under her pillow the tingling in her gut told her that it was only Spike.

"Slayer," he called up the stairs a moment later, "where are you, pet?"

"I'm in here, Spike. Come on up." The fact that she, the Vampire Slayer, had willingly invited a master vamp who had on several occasions tried to murder her into her bedroom only gave Buffy pause for a moment.

She turned on her bedside lamp and listened to the heavy tread of his boots as he climbed the stairs and walked down the hall, stopping in her doorway. For a second Buffy was struck by his clothing. He was wearing his usual black on black t-shirt and jeans under that battered old leather duster, but for some reason it was like she was seeing it for the first time.

"Had me worried, ducks, all the lights off and all." He leaned against the doorjamb and Buffy once again found herself studying his physical appearance. He looked different to her somehow, he looked…hot.

_Oh no,_ Buffy mentally smacked herself_, I did not just think of Spike as hot! _She could admit that she had always found the blonde Brit attractive, but thinking he was hot just seemed…strange. Not wrong, exactly…just different.

"You alright, Slayer? You seem a little off."

"I guess I was more tired than I thought." She said, her voice slightly strained. She silently prayed that just this once he wouldn't be able to read her like a book. "I fell asleep on my history book."

He moved further into her room, taking the textbook from her and settling himself on the end of the bed. "Where's your mum?" He asked as he began flipping through the pages.

"Uh…ah…" Spike's proximity was doing funny things to her ability to speak. "She's still at the gallery. Something was wrong with one of the displays or something and she had to fix it."

He nodded and tossed the text aside, fixing his bright blue gaze on her hazel one. "Where's the Platelet then? At a friend's?"

"Yeah," Buffy began, "she's with Spi…"

"Who?" He asked, confused by her abrupt stop and the look of panic spreading across features.

"YOU!!" Buffy screamed. "SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE WITH YOU!" _Oh God,_ she moaned internally_, I was so busy ogling Spike that I didn't even realize Dawn wasn't with him._ She 

forced herself to lower her voice. "She left for your crypt almost as soon as she got home from school."

"Well she never showed up," Spike said in a voice of forced calm as Buffy's breathing became increasingly shallow, "but don't panic."

"DON'T PANIC?! Spike, Dawn is out here alone with a Hell God on the loose. Oh God, we gotta find her." Buffy was up and halfway down the hall stairs before Spike even registered her movement.

"Slayer, wait!" He said when he caught up with her at the door. "Maybe she went to the Magic Box. Let's call there first and see if your mates have seen the Bit."

Buffy couldn't stand still opting instead to fidget around the vamp and worry her hands in the leather folds of his duster as he stood by the dining room table with the phone to his ear. _Have to find Dawn. Have to find Dawn. Have to find Dawn…_was the only thought running through her frantic mind.

" 'Ello, Red." Buffy tugged on Spike's arm until he leaned down far enough for her to hear what was being said on both sides of the line. "Is Dawn with you lot?"

"Oh Spike," the witch said tremulously, "I just wanted to help. I didn't know that Dawnie was…and now she knows. She ran away. We tried to call Buffy, but no one answered. Giles and Xander went looking, but they didn't…and I'm sorry, so sorry."

"Red, put Tara on." Spike told Willow – who was now sobbing breathlessly – tensely. Buffy's grip on his arm became painful, but he didn't say anything. There was a rustling as the phone changed hands followed by Tara's tentative greeting. "Glinda, what the hell happened? Where's Dawn?"

"She came in this afternoon while Willow was doing a spell she found to help locate the Key. It was supposed to make the key light up. When Dawn started to glow we thought it was a mistake, but after the third time…" Tara's soft voice trailed off.

"And now Dawn knows she's the soddin' Key." He held the phone away from himself in order to let out an impressive stream of curses. "Is Rupert there now?" Spike absently wiped away the tears that had started to slip from the corners of Buffy's eyes. Her silence and the way she was clinging to him as though she would collapse without his support was starting to worry him.

"Yes, he was just getting ready to go to Buffy's house. Do you want to talk to him."

"No, just tell him that me to stay there. Me and the Slayer are gonna go look for the Bit. We'll bring her back to the shop once we find her. Oh, and tell him to give Joyce a ring at the gallery do she knows what's going on." After a quick and cursory goodbye he hung up the phone and focused on quietly crying young woman beside him.

"They called." She choked out, the fact that Spike didn't seem at all surprised by the truth of Dawn's existence completely escaping her notice. "They called me and I didn't answer. And now Dawn knows and she's all alone…" Her watery hazel eyes gazed unseeingly in front of her. Her mind was too hazy with worry, her thoughts scrambled.

"Slayer, you've got to focus." Spike said as he shook her lightly. "Buffy, look at me." He tilted her face up by her chin and waited until he was sure he had her attention before he gently cupped her cheek. "We're going to find her, don't worry about that. I'll tear this God forsaken town apart if I have to. We can worry about what Dawn knowing the truth means once we get her back, but finding her and making sure she's safe comes first. Do you understand?"

"What if Glory…?" she began, but Spike cut her off.

"The Hellbint has no idea what form the Key's in. Right now our main concern is making sure the Bit doesn't do anything to hurt herself. I doubt that after her little revelation she's in any condition to be by herself."

Buffy stared into his clear blue eyes and felt herself gaining control, gladly accepting the strength that his presence offered. She would probably never admit it out loud - it was hard enough to admit to herself - but she needed Spike. She didn't know why she needed him, she just knew that she did. _Maybe that's why I've never been able to dust him…_flitted quickly across her mind.

Buffy squared her shoulders and rose to her full height. She finally let go of his arm and took a deep breath. "Let's go find my sister."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N - Hello, hello!! I'm sooooooo sorry that this update took so long. Damn finals and whoever invented them! Please forgive me? Alrighty then, that's all I have to say. Read and Review!!

A/N #2 - Sorry if my spelling is kind of off in this chapter. My spell-check is on the fritz.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the Buffy characters...sigh. I'm just borrowing them for awhile. Please don't sue!

The Visitor - Chapter 6

Buffy had never hated her small stature as much as she did now, struggling to keep up with Spike's long strides as he walked purposefully towards downtown. _It'd be easier if we were running,_ she thought ruefully_, I'm definitely faster if I'm running._ She was so focused on keeping Spike's "sale-at-Penny's" pace that she ran straight into his leather-clad back when he came to a dead stop in front of her.

"Wha..." she began but he shushed her. His eyes fell closed as he took a deep (unneeded) breath through his nose; his heightened sense of smell obviously catching something of interest. When his eyes reopened she was unsurprised to see that his normally blue irises had gone gold. Buffy watched in silence as his smooth human features gave over to the vampiric ridges and his demon came to the forefront. With preternatural speed he ran off in the direction of Restfield Cemetery.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, running along beside him.

"It's Dawn," he said shortly, "and she's bleeding." Buffy's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach and she quickened her pace. When the pair reached the cemetery the Slayer followed Spike's lead as he wove his way through the headstones and mausoleums. He stopped suddenly and ducked behind a crypt, pulling Buffy along with him.

"Wha..." she started again only to find Spike's palm covering her mouth. Once he was assured that she would remain quiet he released her and began moving slowly around the back of the crypt. Buffy strained her senses trying to hear whatever he was hearing, but it wasn't until they neared the front of the structure that she heard a soft sobbing. "Dawn..." she breathed.

She tried to go to her sister but Spike halted her movement, shaking his head and motioning for her to stay hidden. She started to protest, but something about the look in his eyes made her stay put. She opted instead to peek around the edge of the crypt. Dawn was sitting on the open patch of grass in front of the building, holding her left arm gingerly to her chest. Buffy could clearly see a long gash running the length of her forearm.

Spike stepped forward and made his presence known to the crying teen. At first he didn't say anything to Dawn. He pulled off his long coat and wrapped the soft leather around her shivering frame before dropping to the ground to sit next to her. Buffy'd expected her sister to be angry and hysterical, to barrage Spike with questions about her existence...so she was mildly shocked when Dawn simply scooted closer to the vamp and laid her head on his shoulder. An indeterminable amount of time later (although it seemed like forever to the Slayer), Dawn finally spoke.

"Did you know?" She asked Spike softly. Her voice was raspy from crying and the sheer defeat in her tone made Buffy's heart constrict.

"Yeah, I did." He replied. "When your mum was sick she noticed that something was a bit off and asked me to look into it. I've known since then."

The wheels in Buffy's head finally clicked and the look of realization of her face would have made Spike laugh if her could've seen her. _So that's why he was visiting my mom in the hospital..._

"So mom knows too?" Dawn glanced at Spike as he nodded slowly. "And Buffy? Did she know?"

"I think she knew first." Spike brushed away the hair sticking to her tear-stained cheeks and then rested his pale hand on the back of her neck, keeping her turned towards him.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Her tone held a slightly accusing edge.

"Because she loves you." He said without elaboration.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dawn locked her large, watery eyes on Spike's face and waited for his answer. Buffy was surprised that she, too, was anxious to hear his reasoning. Why hadn't he told Dawn the truth? He was an evil vampire, after all. Wasn't that something an evil vampire would do? She sucked in a sharp breath as she came to a sudden realization.

"Why didn't he tell Glory?" Buffy whispered to herself. He could have easily told the Hell God the true identity of the Key and destroyed Sunnydale and everything in it...but he hadn't. She remembered his explanation when she'd questioned his motives for aiding her in stopping Angelus' planned apocalypse. _Maybe he's just protecting walking Happy Meals, dog racing, and Manchester United again,_she thought. But if she was honest with herself, she knew that there was more to it than that. Spike wasn't protecting his own interests, he was protecting Buffy's...he was protecting Dawn. She was having a difficult time marshaling the confusion swirling through her mind, but Spike's slight inhalation signaling that he was about to speak caught her attention.

"'Cause I love you, too. You're my Lil'Bit, aren't you?" Dawn nodded, once again laying her head on his shoulder and allowing quiet to settle over the cemetery.

Buffy was shocked by Spike's sincerity. _He really does love her,_she thought. Of course she had always know, deep down, that he truly did love her sister. She saw it everytime her read through one of Dawn's essays to correct her grammar or in the way he attentively listened to her as she lamented the many dramas of attending Sunnydale Junior High. In fact, Buffy was positive that Spike loved her mother, too, and she knew that he held a strong affection for both Willow and Tara. But according to everything she'd ever been taught about (soulless) vampires by Giles and more specifically, Angel, Spike shouldn't have been able to feel anything - especially not love - at all. _They must be wrong or he's an exception to the rule,_ she decided.

"What am I, Spike?" Dawn spoke suddenly but quietly. Silence stretched between them for a moment before the Master vamp shifted so he could sit face-to-face with the Key-cum-teenager.

"You're Dawn." He said, shrugging his shoulders as though it was the simplest thing in the universe.

"But what does that mean? Am I even real? What am I?" Dawn's eyes shone with unshed tears and she dropped her head to hide her face behind her hair. Spike gently tipped her chin up, forcing her to make eye contact with him as he studied her blotchy face intently.

"Of course you're real," he began, "you're Dawn. You're my beautiful, smart-ass, clumsy Dawn. You're a walking, hormonal mood swing who's waaay too interested in the male population of your so-called school which will only result in a migraine for me because I just know I'm going to have to kill at least one idiotic teenage boy for trying to touch you." Dawn actually gave a watery laugh and pinched Spike's forearm lightly. "And you're so damn much like you big sis sometimes that when you're in the same room together I want to strangle you both, but I could never really hurt either one of you 'cause you Summers' women - your mum included - have got me wrapped around your little fingers."

"No we don't..." Dawn began to protest, but stopped short at the mildly incredulous look on Spike's face.

"Yes, you do," he said, "and you know it. Might as well put a collar on me and buy me a leash 'cause I'm your pet vamp. I'm not upset about it though. I might've been a little resentful at first - evil vampire and all gettin' tamed by the Slayer and her family - but not anymore. You three have got me whipped and there's nowhere in the bloody world that I'd rather be than right here, makin' sure no one messes with _my_ girls."

Dawn moved so fast that Buffy almost didn't see her as she launched herself at Spike, wrapping her arms around his neck and curling up in his lap. "I love you." She mumbled into his chest. After a few moments of simply holding the young girl, Spike seemed to notice that the cut on Dawn's arm was still bleeding.

"What's all this about?" He asked, indicating the wound.

"I didn't...I - I mean...I wanted to know if I was real. I wanted to know if I would bleed." Dawn looked vaguely ashamed as she stared at her arm.

"Don't worry about it, Bit." He murmured, standing up but keeping her snuggled in his arms. "Let's just get you home and clean it up before it gets infected."

Buffy met Spike halfway as he slowly walked towards her hiding place. As soon as she saw her sister, Dawn opened her mouth to speak but Buffy silenced her by lightly placing her hand on Dawn's forehead.

"We'll talk later, Dawnie. Right now let's just go home." Buffy smoothed down Dawn's hair gently. "Mom's probably worried out of her mind and driving poor Giles out of his, too." Dawn nodded and rested her head on Spike's chest. She was asleep before the trio made back to Revello Drive.

* * *

Buffy stood in the enterance to Dawn's bedroom and watched the nonexistent rise and fall of Spike's chest as he once again slept in a chair beside her sister's bed. She was tired, but the Slayer couldn't sleep.

They'd returned to Revello Drive to find not only a tearful Joyce, but an agitated Giles and several worried Scoobies waiting in the Summers' living room. After several confusing minutes where they all decided to talk at once, Spike informed everyone present that anything they had to say could wait because "the 'Bit" was exhausted. They all watched with slightly widened eyes as he carried upstairs with Buffy trailing closely behind them. The pair had tended to Dawn's arm and then put her to bed. Spike opted to sit with Dawn while Buffy left to deal with the circus in her living room.

It was well after midnight when she'd managed to shoo her mother up to bed and everyone else except Giles - who she knew wanted to talk - back to their own homes. She'd left him downstairs and returned to check-on Dawn only to find both she and Spike asleep. And so there Buffy stood, silently watching her former mortal enemy as he guarded her baby sister.

"Buffy?" Giles' voice drifted softly up the stairs. She made her way back down to the first floor and found the Watcher standing rigidly by the mantle.

"What is it, Giles?"

"Buffy," he began hesitantly and she knew instantly that she wasn't going to like whatever it was he had to say, "what are you going to do about Spike?"

"What do you mean what am I going to do about Spike?"

"He now knows that Dawn is the Key, Buffy. It is safe to assume, given his track record, that he would use this knowledge for his own gain. I know that you have formed some sort of perverse friendship with him, but you must realize that he has to be taken care of before he can..."

"'Taken care of?'" Buffy interrupted Giles. "You want me to kill Spike?"

"He is clearly a threat and as the Slayer it is your duty..."

"No," she said louder than she intended to, "he is not a 'threat'. He's known the truth about Dawn since my mom was in the hospital and he hasn't said anything to anybody." Giles looked shocked for a moment, but quickly recovered.

"Buffy, be reasonable. Just because he has refrained from saying anything as of yet does not mean that he will not say anything in the future."

"He won't." Buffy said confidently. "I know he won't."

"How can you be sure?" Giles asked, pulling a cloth from his pocket to clean his glasses.

"Because he loves Dawn. He would take a bath in holy water before he willingly let anything bad happen to her."

"He loves her? Buffy, he's incapable of love. He has no..."

"No soul. Yeah, I know he doesn't. That doesn't mean he loves Dawn any less." She stepped closer to her Watcher and placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on his arm. "Just watch him with her from now on and you'll see it. And pay attention to the way he treats my mother 'cause he loves her, too. He's not going to do anything that would get either of them hurt. And I'm not going to hurt him." Giles sighed resignedly and put his glasses back on.

"I hope you're right." He said as he walked towards the door. "For now, I think it's best if we both get some sleep. Perhaps we can discuss this more in the morning. Goodnight, Buffy."

After Giles left, Buffy locked up the house and got ready for bed. She found herself once again standing in Dawn's doorway, watching her sister and her vampire sleep. _Wait, did I just refer to Spike as _my _vampire?_ Shaking her head, Buffy made her way to her own bedroom and burrowed under her covers. _Tomorrow,_ she thought sleepily_, I'll worry about everything tomorrow..._


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, hello! So, I hate when authors post an Author's Note instead of a chapter...but I'm doing it anyway. I'm going on a little vacation in Louisana and I'll be without internet access for about a week. I will still be diligently working on an update, but I won't be able to post it for a little while! Sorry, sorry, sorry!! Please forgive me?**

**Love, Kat**


	8. Chapter 8

A/N - Hello!! I tried to make this chappie a little longer since I took so long updating!! So, how's the story coming along so far? Am I doing okay? The Spuffy love isn't too rushed or sudden, is it? I don't really know where I want to take this story from here so please bear with me while I figure it out. If anyone has any ideas of suggestions they are more than welcome to share them with me. After all, caring is sharing! Anywho, please Read and Review!!

A/N #2 - P.S. I alluded to the fact that there is an opening for the tunnels under Sunnydale in Buffy's basement. I don't really think there was such an opening in the show, but I needed one so I put it there. Don't hate me!

DISCLAIMER: Ummm...I own my laptop, a black Pomeranian named Rocky and a whole lot of shoes, but no BTVS characters! Don't sue please!

The Visitor - Chapter 7

Three days. That's apparently how long it takes one to recover from the traumatic experience of finding out that they are in fact a mystical Key turned adolescent, because after only three days Dawn was back to bouncing around the house like the normal teenage girl she really wasn't.

"So, there's this party tonight," she said from her post at the kitchen counter next to Spike where they were watching Buffy flutter around attempting to make breakfast, "and I was sort of thinking about going. Do you think mom'll let me?"

"How do you do this?" Buffy directed towards the only vampire in the room, unintentionally ignoring her younger sister. She was trying to flip a pancake and failing spectacularly. After a few minutes of trying in vain to turn the slowly burning batter over she gave up and dumped the whole blackened gooey mess into the trash. "How 'bout some eggs? Huh? I'm pretty sure I can scramble eggs."

"Ummm, sure." Dawn replied, hopping off the bar stool and grabbing the Styrofoam carton from the refrigerator. "About that party..."

"Why don't you just let me cook, Slayer?" Spike interrupted. He moved to take that eggs from Dawn's outstretched hands, but was blocked by Buffy's small frame.

"No," she snatched away the carton and held it to her chest protectively, "I wanna do it. You've cooked for us a lot lately so now it's my turn to cook for you." The pair locked eyes for a moment and Buffy blushed, something she'd been doing more and more in Spike's presence.

He settled back onto his seat and smirked as she began sloppily cracking eggs into a bowl. "Whatever you say, Pet. You're the boss."

"Hey guys." Dawn attempted to draw their attention. "You know that party I was talking about..."

"What party?" Buffy asked distractedly while picking eggshells out of the mixing bowl.

"What party?!" The younger Summers cried indignantly. "The party that I've been talking about for the last ten minutes!"

"I didn't hear you say anything about a party, 'Bit." Spike stood and snatched the whisk away from Buffy, trying to shoo her away from the food.

"Me neither." She agreed as she tried to reclaim her role as chef from the bleached vamp. They began a mock fight for the whisk which turned into more of a tickle-war than anything else.

"Well I did!" Dawn whined. "I told you I was thinking about going and I asked if you thought mom would let me, but I guess you two were too busy flirting and making googely eyes at each other to pay attention."

"We were not flirting!" Slayer and vampire said in tandem. Buffy's face blazed red and she hastily removed her hands from Spike's abdomen and took a step away from him.

"Yeah, sure." Dawn waved a dismissive hand. "And someday I'm gonna win a gold medal for Olympic clog dancing." An awkward silence settled over the kitchen as two of the three occupants actively avoided looking at each other. Spike was the first to break, clearing his throat noisily and turning away to finish preparing the eggs.

"You're seeing things, 'Bit. Big Bads do not _flirt_ and since I'm the biggest..." He stopped when Buffy began to laugh. "What?"

"Some Big Bad you are. You do realize that you are not only cooking breakfast, but you're cooking breakfast for the Slayer and her baby sister, right?"

"Yeah, well," he struggled to think of a response, "I'm only doing it because _you_ would burn down the kitchen - with me in it - if I let you anywhere near the stove. So you see, it's really only self preservation on my part."

"I am not that bad of a cook!"

"Yes you are." He retorted with a laugh.

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are..."

"GUYS!" Dawn shouted. "Again with the flirting." She gestured to the lack of space between them and they quickly backed away from each other.

_Oh God,_ Buffy thought_, she's right. We are flirting! _

"Sorry." She mumbled. Spike threw her a puzzled glance, obviously wondering why the Slayer hadn't vigorously denied Dawn's accusation. There was a quick flash of something in his eyes, but it was gone before she had the chance to properly identify it. _Did he look...hopeful? No, that's stupid..._

"Yeah 'Bit," he said, confusion clear in his tone, "we're paying attention now. So, what's so important about this party that it's got your knickers all in a twist?"

"It's not really important, I guess. I just kind of wanted to go and you know, be normal for awhile."

"Well, where's it going to be at and who is going to be there." Buffy jumped into the conversation. "Will there be drinking? Will you be back by your curfew? How..."

"Whoa. Slow down Sparky." Dawn held up her hands as though blocking an attack. "First, it's at Janice's friend Tommy's house. Second, I don't know who's going to be there. Probably just some kids from Tommy's school though. Third, I doubt there will be any drinking seeing as we're all underage, but even if alcohol was present I would never be stupid enough to drink. I heard the horror story that is CaveBuffy, after all. And finally, I will try my hardest to make sure I am home before my carriage turns back into a pumpkin. Is that good enough for you?"

But the look on her face said Buffy clearly wasn't satisfied with something. "Wait, _his _school? Where does he go to school?" As far as she knew there was only one middle school in Sunnydale so either this Tommy kid lived in another town or he was older. Dawn mumbled a reply, suddenly very interested in the flowers embroidered around the hem of her t-shirt. "What was that?"

"He's in high school."

"No." Spike said, setting a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of Dawn. Buffy hadn't even realized that he had continued cooking.

"What?" Dawn questioned.

"I said no, you're not going." He explained to her simply while handing Buffy her own plate of food.

"What?" Dawn repeated. "You don't get to decide that. My mom..."

"Will agree with me, you know she will. Don't even bother her with this, she's still not 100 yet and she doesn't need you pestering her about something so insignificant. So just listen to me and do as I say, okay?" Spike sighed when Dawn just stared at him stonily and set his own breakfast - a mug of blood with bits of toast crumbled into it - on the table. "I don't care how much you pout. There is no way in hell that I am going to let you haul yourself to some party full of horny high school boys who won't give a damn that you're only 14."

Buffy expected Dawn to react angrily. If _she_had told her sister she was to young to do something there would be a shouting match and possibly some throwing of things, but she was once again surprised by Dawn's response to the blonde vamp.

"You don't trust me?" She asked dejectedly.

"Of course I trust you." His tone was gentle and loving, but oddly fitting for the once ruthless killer. "It's those horny high school boys I mentioned that I don't trust. So therefore you, Niblet, will be staying far away from said heathens." Buffy marveled at the rapid change in Dawn's attitude and she was suddenly very grateful for Spike's continued presence. With the exception of Xander and maybe Giles, Dawn had never really had a strong male influence in her life. Angel, and certainly not Riley, hadn't taken enough of an interest in the teen to form any sort of bond with her. Only Spike had and it was slightly confusing to the Slayer that she was not at all uncomfortable with the fact that one of the most infamous vampires in history was a father-figure of sorts to her sister.

"But..." Dawn tried.

"No, no 'buts'. _However_," Spike's eyes lit up mischievously, "I suppose if you really, really wanted to go we could always work something out."

"Like what?"

"Yeah, like what?" Buffy mimicked. She was intrigued by the vaguely evil smirk spreading across Spike's face.

"She can go if she takes along a chaperon."

"A CHAPERONE?!" Both Summers women shouted. Buffy doubled over in laughter while Dawn glared as menacingly as she could manage, crossing her arms across her chest moodily.

"Never mind, I guess I'll just stay home tonight." She huffed.

"Don't you even want to know who your chaperon would be?" He asked mock incredulously. "It might not be that bad..."

"Who?"

He cocked his head to the side, a rare genuine smile - not smirk - gracing his pale face. "Well, I've got nothing planned tonight."

"No! Absolutely not! One, you'd wind up killing the first boy who looked at me sideways. And two, how would I introduce you to people? 'Oh don't mind him, he's just my overprotective undead bodyguard William the Bloody'?"

"How 'bout just Mister Spike?" Buffy offered, clearly amused by the whole situation.

"No, 'Mister Spike' makes me sound old." Spike complained.

"You are old." Both girls countered.

"Yeah," he said cockily, "but I don't look it." His look of feigned offence when the girls laughed at him only caused them to giggle harder. "Whatever, you know I look good."

"That may be," Buffy replied, oblivious to the fact that she had just complimented Spike, "but you're still not taking Dawn to the party."

"And why not?"

"'Cause you'd wind up murdering a bunch of overly hormonal, but innocent teenage boys. Then I'd have to stake you which would be really sad. It would upset me, Dawn, my mom, and probably Tara and Willow, too. Especially Tara 'cause aside from Willow I think you're the only person she really talks to. And if you got dusted, who would cook for us? I'm dangerous when given a spatula, you said so yourself. Burning kitchen, remember? And there'd be no one to watch my back on patrol and that just wouldn't be good for anyone. And..." She stopped abruptly, a strange expression settling on her delicate features.

"What?" Dawn pressed her to continue. She was confused not only by Buffy's sudden stop, but her whole ramble in general.

"I don't want you to leave." Buffy turned to meet Spike's shocked and confused gaze.

"Huh?" He said in eloquently. "I really had no plans on going anywhere anytime soon."

"No, don't you get it. Before I just _needed_ you to be here, but you don't necessarily have to _want_ everything you need. But now...I don't _want_ you to leave." She repeated, more to herself than to the others. Her hands gripped the edge of the table denting the soft wood. "I admitted to myself awhile ago that I needed you in my life, but I kept denying that I wanted you there. But I do. I want you to patrol with me, to help take care of Dawn,to argue with my mom about that stupid show you watch, to listen when I'm upset..." She trailed off, ducking her head so she wouldn't have to look Spike in the eyes.

The shrill ring of the telephone caused all of them to jump. Dawn, anxious to escape the tension between Spike and Buffy, ran to answer it.

"Buffy..." he breathed when they were alone. He gently placed his large hand over her much smaller one and was only mildly surprised when she shifted the apendage in order to interlace their fingers.

"I..." she began, but was interrupted by Dawn's return. The younger girl glanced briefly at their hands, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"It was Giles." She told them, waving the portable phone in demonstration. "He found out something important about Glory and he's calling an emergency Scooby meeting at the Magic Box."

"Okay." Buffy took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts. "Let's go." She moved to stand, but grip on her hand tightened.

"Buffy?"

"Tonight." She gently shook their clasped hands. "We'll talk tonight on patrol, okay? Right now we have a Hell God to take care of."

"Right." He said resolutely, grabbing his leather duster off the back of his chair and heading towards the basement.

"Where are you going?" Buffy sounded a little anxious, afraid that she had somehow scared him off. After all, the men in her life did have a bad habit of leaving.

"Figured I'd take the tunnels and meet you there. You don't want me all dusty, remember?" Spike smirked and gestured towards the window where rays of bright sunlight filtered in through the curtains.

"Oh, right." She blushed. "See you at the Magic Box?"

"No where else I'd rather be, Slayer." He said with a parting wave before disappearing into the basement.

"Okay." Buffy turned to Dawn. "Let's go."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N - Hello, hello! I'm a horrible person, I know. And I'm so sorry that it's been taking so long between updates. I had hoped that I'd be able to crank out chapters at a faster pace since I'm supposed to be on vacation, but I decided to take a summer course. I know, I'm not too bright sometimes. Anywho, I promise to try and update sooner from now on. Please read and review...especially the review part. It makes my day to get feedback! I know a lot of readers have added alerts to this story and I would be supremely pleased if everyone who added an alert could add a review, too!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! I don't even own the shirt on my back. Seriously, it's a work shirt so it belongs to Franklin College. Don't sue!

The Visitor - Chapter 8

"What time is it now?" Buffy asked anxiously as she paced the length of the Magic Box. She hadn't been fussed when she and Dawn arrived at a Spike-less store. She assumed they'd simply beat him there. After all, it takes longer to travel by the tunnels than it does by the conventional road. When Giles had suggested that they begin the meeting without Spike, Buffy accidentally broke the jar of thyme she'd been fiddling with and told her Watcher that she'd rather wait for the vampire to arrive. But nearly an hour had passed without sign of the bleached vamp and Buffy was really starting to worry.

"Two minutes since the last time you checked." Anya supplied snappily. "Honestly, can't we get this show on the road? You people made insisted that we close down shop on a Saturday morning! Do you realise how many sales I'm losing? I could be earning monay right now. Valuable, valuable money! But instead we've all just been sitting around not earning money because Buffy's," she hesitated for a moment, "whatever Spike is to Buffy hasn't made an appearance."

The look Buffy shot the ex-demon would have had lesser beings trembling, but Anya only opened her mouth wider to continue her tirade. Fortunately for all present Giles stepped in to prevent any messy bloodshed. "Yes, thank you Anya. We appreciate the inconvenience, but this really is of the utmost importance and if Buffy feels that Spike's presence is necessary then we must wait for him to, uh, turn up."

There was an underlying tone to the Englishman's voice that put Buffy's nerves on edge. It was almost smug, as if he were really saying _See Buffy, I told you so. You trusted Spike and now he's gone and left you when you need him most._

"Maybe he stopped by Willy's." Willow suggested in her eternally cheerful and optimistic way, trying to diffuse the growing tension within the room.

"Yeah," Tara piped up in support, "he always says he needs liquid encouragement in order to sit through a Scooby meeting without killing something."

"Maybe we should go look for him." Dawn said in a small voice. "This doesn't feel right, something is wrong. What if something happened to him? Just the other day he was talking about how the demon community hates him because he's been helping the Slayer."

"I know!" Buffy squeezed the decorative crystal ball she'd been passing hand-to-hand restlessly, shattering it into several pieces. "Shoot!"

"You're gonna have to pay for that!" Anya said indignantly as she produced a broom and dustpan from behind the counter and moved to begin sweeping up the mess. "That's the second thing you've ruined today!"

"Ahn," Xander cooed while gently pulling his girlfriend out of the increasingly murderous looking Chosen One's arm range, "maybe you should worry about repayment later. Right now let's focus on figuring out where Dead Boy Jr. has scampered off to."

Buffy moved suddenly, striding over to the table usually reserved for beastie research and grabbing her jacket off of a chair back. "I'm gonna go look for him."

"Can I come?" Dawn questioned hopefully, already reaching for her own jacket.

"I think," Giles said from his position at the table, "that it would be best if you both stayed here."

"And why is that?" The Slayer could hear the irritation creeping into her voice, but only barely attempted to keep it at bay.

"Honestly, I do not believe anything unfortunate has befallen Spike." He responded. "I think he a merely tired of playing the so-called 'white-hat' role and..."

"You think he left us?" Dawn cut in sharply, drawing everyone's attention as she turned her luminous gaze on the older man.

"He is a soulless vampire, Dawn. It is in his nature..."

"His _nature_? What do you know about his _nature_? You refuse to see him for who he really is because a group of stuffy old men in suits who rely on a girl to protect them from the things that go bump in the night taught you that all vampires are bad. But Spike isn't. He's different and if you'd open your eyes for once you would notice." The teen's voice broke and for a moment it looked as though she was going to cry, but after a calming breath she was ready to go on. "He would never willingly leave us, Giles. There must be something wrong and..."

"And the longer I stand here doing nothing," Buffy interrupted, "the more wrong it's going to get. So, I'm gonna go find Spike. You guys stay here and do...whatever it is you do when I'm not here." She started to make her way towards the back exit of the store but turned back quickly when the bell above the front door chimed signaling someone's entrance. "Spike?"

"No Slayer, I am not your precious vampire." The robed figure in the doorway spoke in a soft, squeaky voice.

"Hey buddy," Xander he took a step forward, "the store's closed. Oh, and the Emperor called. He wants his look back."

"What?" Giles uttered confusedly.

"It's one of his many _Star Wars_ references." Anya explained before turning to the intruder. "Hello possible customer, can I interest you in some dried mandrake root? It's on sale today for only a dime an ounce or 1.60 per pound."

"There is nothing in this establishment that is of interest to me." He - his voice sounded semi-male at least - said while pulling a wrapped package from under his covering. "But I have something that might interest the Slayer."

"Well get on with it, Sir Robes-Alot. I've got things to do today." Buffy barked impatiently.

"As you wish." With a grand flourish the mysterious visitor tore the package open, the jerking motion of his arm causing his hood to fall and revealing him as one of Glory's slimy little minions.

"Is that Spike's coat?" Tara murmured when the plain brown wrapping paper fell away from the minions 'surprise.'

"Yes, that's Spike's coat." Buffy choked out through clenched teeth. She studied the faded black leather as the minion displayed it in front of himself and felt her anger rising. That was Spike's prized leather duster and it just seemed..._wrong_that this inferior being had his scabby little hands all over it. Before she even noticed that her feet were moving, the Slayer was across the room with her own hands fisted in the minion's cloak. "What are _you_ doing with Spike's coat? I highly doubt he'd just give it to you and I don't think you forced it off of him because he'd snap you like a twig."

The tiny demon squeaked in fear, cowering under Buffy's gaze. "My mistress was displeased with your reluctance to hand over her Key. She decided that if she had something you wanted, something important to you, you'd be more likely to give her what she wants. Your vampire killed six of us before the Mistress stepped in to overpower him. Once Glorificus had the vampire in her custody she gave me his coat to bring to you as a calling card of sorts." His mini-monologue ended in a pitiful whimper when Buffy lifted him off the ground, shaking him slightly.

"Why did she take Spike? Wouldn't it have been easier for her to snatch someone without supernatural strength and a nasty temper?"

The minion quivered for a moment, clearly deciding if answering Buffy's question would help or hinder his situation. Eventually he sighed resignedly, accepting the fact that he was probably going to be torn into several very small pieces. "Glorificus, she...she chose the vampire because she knew you would try very hard to get him back...and, and a vampire can survive torture for much longer than a human can."

"WHAT?" Dawn squealed, angry tears coursing down her flushed cheeks. "Buffy, you can't let them do that. I'll..."

"Dawn, NO! You're not going to do anything. I'll get Spike back, don't worry." The Slayer turned back to the writhing creature still held in her grasp. "Here's the thing," she whispered menacingly, "you're gonna tell me where your _Mistress_ took my vampire or I'm going to make your death very slow and painful. Do you understand?"

* * *

_Oh bugger_, Spike thought groggily as he regained consciousness and took in his surroundings. He was chained to a wall, his wrists and ankles bound by heave steal shackles. The nasty pounding at the base of his skull told him that he'd taken a hit to the head and his memory of the last few hours was hazy. _This can not be good._

A/N #2 - I know, I truly am a horrible person. First I take forever to update and then I write a cliffy!? What's wrong with me? Oh well, guess I'm hopeless. Review please!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N - Hello my lovelies!! First, I just want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed so far. I absolutely love feedback!! I'm such a review ho...lol! Second, my summer course is now officially over so I should have more free time to write of "epic" (shout out to all my fellow V. Mars fans) Spuffy love. As testament to that proclamation, here is the next chappie. Please read and review!

DISCLAIMER: It's not mine! Please don't sue!

The Visitor - Chapter 9

_Oh bugger_, Spike thought groggily as he regained consciousness. The pounding at the base of his skull told him that he'd taken a heavy blow to the noggin. It took a second for his eyes to focus enough to take in his surroundings. He was chained to the wall of a rather upscale looking apartment, his wrists and ankles bound by heavy steel shackles. His dark jeans were muddied from his early struggle and the black t-shirt he'd donned that morning seemed to have disappeared along with his beloved leather duster. The decorative clock on the wall opposite him gave the time as two p.m. If it was correct he'd been down for the count for nearly three hours. _This can not be good._

"Finally decide to return to the land of the living, Bright Eyes? Or, unliving for you, huh?" A feminine voice said from somewhere to his right. He didn't turn to face his captor; he didn't need to. He already knew _who_had decided to play snatch'n'grab, it was the _why_he was a tad confused about. His only guess was that she wanted information about the identity and location of the Key and had picked who she thought was the most likely of Buffy's crew to spill the beans with the least hassle. Unfortanetly for her, she was going to be greatly disappointed. He would gladly sacrifice himself if it meant keeping his 'Lil Bit safe.

Glory moved into his line of sight, placing herself almost directly in front of him. Spike lifted his aching head and met her cold gaze with as much venom as he could muster.

"You know," he drawled as best he could despite the scratchiness of his throat, "if you wanted my fashion advice, you could've just asked me. I didn't need to be jumped by you and a dozen of your minions to tell you that red really isn't your color."

"Ah, a vampire _and_ a comedian. Aren't you just a demon for all seasons. But something tells me the Slayer doesn't keep you around 'cause you're so damn funny."

"Yeah, you're right about that. The Slayer hasn't dusted me yet because I'm _so damn_ gorgeous. My sense of humor is just an added bonus."

Glory exaggerated a laugh, her shrillness causing Spike to wince as the sheer volume of her over-the-top cackle buffeted his eardrums and exacerbated the throbbing in his brain. "You know, the whole 'I'm-a-conceited-smartass' thing you've got going on is going to get real old, real fast."

"Guess you'd better just kill me then 'cause that's not something I can turn on and off at will." He attempted a smirk, but was fairly certain it came across as more of a grimace. His brow creased in irritation when the Hell God before him guffawed yet again.

"I can't kill you now, silly." She said with a smile, pushing an errant curl away out of her eyes impatiently. "You haven't told me what I want to know yet."

"And what makes you think that a) I know anything of and importance and b) that I'd tell you if I knew anything of importance?"

"Come on, Billy Idol wannabe! I know you're not stupid. In fact, I know all about you. And I know you know where my Key is." She ran a red-nailed hand from his navel to his collar bone and the blond vamp shuddered when she adopted what was clearly supposed to be a sultry look, but in reality looked more like a snarl. "I had my minions do a little research when I found out that you and the Slayer were..._close. _I know about your little chip," she slid her fingers through his platinum tresses, "problem. What kind of world are we living in where humans can put an electric leash on one of the most infamous vampires of all time and reduce him to nothing more than the Slayer's lapdog. It's just wrong!"

Spike pushed his head back towards the wall, separating Glory's fingers from his scalp. "Yeah well, I adjusted. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly complaining about being in the Slayer's lap. And like I said earlier, you'd be better off just killing me now 'cause I'm not going to tell you anything."

"What if I could get rid of that annoying little piece of metal that keeps you in line?"

"You don't think I'm stupid and yet, you think I'll fall for the old 'i'll-get-rid-of-your-government-issued-chip-if-you-help-me-with-my-evil-scheme' ploy." Spike scoffed. "Got news for you, pet. Been there, done that and it didn't turn out pretty."

"You mean, you don't believe I'll follow through on my side of the deal?" Glory stuck out her bottom lip and mock pouted. "That hurts. Unfortunately for you it doesn't hurt nearly as much as you will if you don't tell me where my Key is."

"Guess we're both shit out of luck then, huh?"

"I am so going to enjoy this." She said as she pushed open a door to his left and disappeared through it. Only a few beats later she returned carrying a small daggar and a vial of clear liquid that could only be holy water. "You get on my nerves."

"Trust me," he seethed through gritted teeth as the first drop of the blessed water slid down his pale skin, "you're not the first woman to say that to me."

Glory's overly red lips twisted into something resembling a smile. "But I bet I'll be the last."

It was nearly six when the Scoobies - minus an outraged Dawn who was forced to remain at Revello Drive with her mother - arrived at Glory's apartment building. The Hell God's minion had held out for a surprising long amount of time before finally caving, telling them that his mistress was the sole tenant of a large apartment building that she'd cleared out of other occupants herself. And while Anya scrubbed his blood from various surfaces around the Magic Box, the others had thrown together a hasty rescue plan.

As they were leaving the shop, Giles had pulled Buffy slightly away from the group. "What do you plan to do if Spike has told Glory the identity of the Key?" He asked softly.

"I don't plan to do anything."

Shocked fury was the only way to describe the look that stole across the Watcher's face as he sputtered at her. "Nothing? Buffy you...and he's...you can't be..."

"I don't plan to do anything," she interrupted, "because Spike won't tell Glory about the Key."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just am, Giles."

"But..."

"No! No 'buts.'" Buffy shouted angrily, drawing the attention of their companions. "Trust me, I know my vampire and he'd die before he told that Bitch anything. Now let's go. She's had him far too long and I'd like to get my vampire back." After that, there'd been little conversation. No one spoke until they reached the revolving door of the Hell God's apartment.

"Remember, you guys hold off the minions while I go get Spike. Once you get the situation downstairs under control, come up and find me. I might need help moving him if he's hurt." The Slayer instructed as she kicked in the locked front doors. Several minions milling around the lobby jumped at the intrusion before rushing the invading do-gooders.

Sparring only a backwards glance at her friends Buffy sprinted towards the stairs, bounding up them two at a time until she reached Glory's floor. She approached the door cautiously and was surprised to find it slightly ajar. She pushed it open cautiously, poking her head around the door jam to peer into the room. Things were strewn everywhere and it looked like some sort of struggle had taken place. Glory was nowhere to be seen. Buffy ran her eyes around the room, her heart skipping a beat when she spotted a battered blond form sagging against the far wall.

"Spike." She breathed, tears of relief welling in her eyes. He didn't look good. He was obviously unconscious. There was a series of burns running the length of his chest, his face was badly bruised, blood dripped slowly down his wrists where shackles cut into his alabaster skin, and shallow little cuts marred any available surface. But he wasn't dust and that's all that mattered. He wasn't dust and he would heal, she would help him heal. She just had to get him out of there.

The space between them suddenly seemed much too large and she hastily made her way towards him. "Oh Spike," Buffy whispered, running her fingertips over a gash on his forehead, "what did she do to you?" She tugged at the restraints holding him up, but even her Slayer strength was no match for the reinforced steel. "I need Willow's magic." She muttered to herself, once again running her fingers lightly over Spike's various contusions. She was lost in her examination of his injuries until the telltale sound of someone running up the stairs reached her ears. Positioning herself protectively infront of Spike, she readied herself for a fight.

"Buffy!" Willow called breathlessly as she burst into the room.

"Will," the Slayer dropped her fighting stance and rushed the red headed witch, "I was just thinking about how much I could use your magic right now. He's not dust, but he's hurt and I can't get him out of his the chains." She gestured unneededly towards the imprisoned vamp, frustrated tears once again rolling down her flushed cheeks.

"Oh Buffy, what did she do to him?" Willow choked as her eyes raked over Spike's bloodied body. Buffy returned to his side and turned pleading eyes on her friend. With a whispered incantation the chains supporting Spike's literal dead weight dissolved and he slumped in Buffy's arms. He groaned softly and his eyelashes fluttered, but he didn't wake.

"Come on." Buffy grunted as she hoisted herself to a standing position with the vamp still encased in her grasp. "Let's take him home."

A/N #2 - I don't know how to write torture scenes. I'm one of those people who pulls a blanket over their head at the first sign of blood in a scary movie and I avoid really violent movies like _Hostel _at all costs. So I apologise if Spike's torment was lackluster.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N - Howdy, howdy, howdy! So, here's the next chapter. I had a bit of difficulty getting this particular chappie from my brain to the page to the computer. I hope it's satisfactory. Anywho, here it is! Please read and review!

P.S. I know I said I would try to get chapters out faster, but I've taken another job (stupid college costs) and I'll be pretty busy for the foreseeable future. On the upside, I now get a discount at JC Penney's. The bad part is I won't have as much free time to write. Excuses, excuses...I know, I'm a horrible person but I'm begging your forgiveness! Please don't hate me if it takes me awhile to update!

DISCLAIMER: Do you know how happy I would be if I owned Spike? Very, very happy is the correct answer ladies and gents. But alas, Spike - like everything else from the Buffyverse, in fact - is not mine and I am very, very sad. Please don't sue this sad, sad girl...

The Visitor - Chapter 10

"Oh my God. What happened?" Joyce Summers uttered when her oldest daughter burst through the front door of their home carrying an unconscious Spike and followed closely by the entire Scooby gang.

"Hell God." Buffy explained shortly, gently setting the battered vampire on the living room sofa and kneeling so she was level with his bruised face. Tears welled up in her eyes and slid silently down her cheeks as she ran her hand through Spike's loosened platinum curls, dislodging dried flakes of blood. "I need to get him cleaned up."

"I'll get you some warm water and a washcloth, honey. And bandages? Would bandages be helpful?" Joyce looked to Giles when it became apparent that her daughter would not be so forthcoming. Buffy had placed her forehead against a small unmarked patch of skin high on Spike's shoulder, small hiccuping sobs escaping every few seconds.

"Yes Joyce," said the Brit, "bandages would be very helpful."

After the Summer's matriarch disappeared into the kitchen an awkward silence fell over those remaining with Buffy as she sat vigil by Spike. No one knew how exactly to address the distraught Slayer as she whimpered into his shoulder. None of them - with the possible exception of Willow after the whole Angel debacle - had ever seen the Slayer cry. She was the poster child for emotional strength and to see her break down now was highly uncomfortable to all involved.

Giles and Xander - who had only just come to terms with the fact that Buffy and Spike were even _friends_ - were having an especially difficult time. It was clear, even to the most obtuse of individuals, that there something more going on between Slayer and vampire. Something that neither man cared to define, because labeling would only make it real.

The quiet was only disturbed when Anya deemed it necessary to voice her confusion.

"There really is no reason for Buffy to be so upset. Why is she crying?" The ex-demon inquired bluntly. "Once he regains consciousness and his vamp healing kicks in, Spike will be perfectly fine. At least he's not dust, right? Sure he's a little beat-up now, but it's not like he's dead_er _or anything."

"'A little beat-up'?" Buffy's head snapped up from it's spot close to the crook of Spike's neck. "He was tortured! Let's tie you up and I'll wail on you for a few hours then we'll see how you like being 'a little beat up."

"Well, I was just saying..." Anya began to defend herself before Xander intervened.

"Ahn honey, why don't you and I go home? There's really nothing more we can do here and you have to be up early tomorrow to open the shop."

"Oh yes," Anya's eyes lit up with the prospect of earning money, "Sundays are extremely good business days which is ironic since magic is frowned upon in the Bible and Sunday is supposed to be all holy and everything."

Jumping on the bandwagon, Willow quickly made her excuses to escape. "Uh, we should get going too. My mom's making us come to brunch tomorrow so she can meet Tara and we can have the whole 'I've been in a lesbian relationship for almost a year, sorry I didn't tell you sooner' talk."

"We'll be back tomorrow, though." Tara hastened to add. "As soon as we can. I'll even bring some herbs that you can put in Spike's blood when he eats that'll help speed up his healing."

With a mumbled 'thanks', Buffy once buried her face against her vampire's skin. Feeling as though they had been dismissed, the Scoobies followed a somewhat flustered looking Giles to the door. "Yes well, erm..." the Watcher struggled for something to say, "I suppose we'll see you tomorrow. Do call if you need anything before then." And with that they were gone. Buffy didn't fully process their departure until her mother returned with a Tupperware bowl full of water and a first aid kit.

"Where did everyone go?"

"Huh?" Buffy glanced up, briefly taking in the empty room before once again focusing her attention on Spike. It was like a thick fog had surrounded her mind, dampening her senses and making it impossible to properly focus on anything, but the vampire before her. "Oh, erm...I guess they must have left. I wasn't paying attention. Did you bring bandages?"

The Summers women set about cleaning and bandaging the many cuts and abraisions marring their favorite vamp's skin, working diligently to make sure each injury was cared for. It wasn't until the pair had finished rapping his busted ribs and the haze that had blanketed her brain began to clear that Buffy noted the lack of excitable teenage girl fluttering around.

"Where's Dawn?" She asked her mother.

"In her room asleep." Joyce replied softly. "I had to give her something to calm her down. I was afraid she was going to have a panic attack. Poor thing kept mumbling about Spike being dusted and how it would be all her fault."

"Should I wake her up? Let her know that Spike is still...un-alive."

"No, let her sleep. He'll still be here for her to fuss over in the morning." Joyce said, her voice soft and soothing. "You should get some sleep, too. You'll be no good to Spike if you're falling over with exhaustion in the morning."

"But..."

"No, no 'buts', Buffy. Chosen one or not, you still need your rest."

"I know." The Slayer conceded with an ill-timed yawn. "It's just...I'm afraid that if I look away, if I let him out of my sight for more than a second, he'll disappear and I won't get him back this time."

"So I take it you'll be sleeping down here tonight?" Joyce questioned with an understanding smile.

"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "I want to be here when he wakes up."

* * *

_Note to self_, Spike thought dryly as he swan towards consciousness, _avoid torture by Hell God from now on. _The first thing he noted once he became aware of his surroundings was the pressure of something resting on his chest. After a few moments of confusion, the Master vamp realized that he was no longer chained to a wall in the Hell Bint's apartment but was instead lying in the living room of the Slayer's house. And the weight bearing down on his healing torso was none other than the Slayer herself. She'd filled the small gap between his side and the back of the couch, resting the upper half of her body on top of his.

She'd come to get him. She'd rescued him. Part of him had known she would, had known that she would not simply leave in to dust. But a larger part - the part that still vividly recalled the claims of his worthlessness so easily bandied about by the likes of Angeleus and Cecily - had firmly believed that she would decide he wasn't worth the trouble of retrieval and write him off as a loss. But she hadn't and that amazed him.

"Oh, Buffy..." He sighed on an exhalation of breath as he took in her sleeping face. He had been fairly positive that he was never going to see his Slayer again, prepared to die in order to keep the identity of the Key secret. To awake and find her resting at his side was more than he could ever wish for and he would have starred at her peaceful face forever had his stomach not protested at it's emptiness. As much as he hated leaving the warmth that the Slayer's proximity encased him in, he knew that he would need sustenance in order to heal quickly. It was with an air of regret that he wiggled out from under her and pulled himself upright. Buffy - exhausted from the day's events - merely moaned slightly at his movement, but did not wake.

His legs, though they had not suffered the level of injury that the rest of him had, still threatened to fail him as he made his way towards the kitchen where he knew a few packets of blood were stored in the freezer. The walk to the refridgerator drained him of what little energy he had and he leaned heavily against the counter, contemplating the trek to the microwave. Really, did he need to heat up his dinner? Blood was blood whether it was hot or cold, temperature was really more of a preference than a necessity. He'd just decided that warm blood wasn't really worth the pain when a tiny voice spoke from behind him.

"Spike?" Dawn called hopefully. Her heart began to race when he turned towards her, revealing the cuts and bruises that adorned his normally pale and unmarked skin. With a strangled sob she launched herself at him, trapping him in a surprisingly strong grip for such a small girl and burying her face in his chest. "Oh Spike, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I'm sorry."

Spike grimaced in pain, but didn't move to push the sobbing girl away from him. He had suffered worse to keep her safe and he was willing to put up with a little more. "Shh, 'Bit. 'S not your fault. And hey, there's nothing to cry about. I'm still undead and kicking, aren't I? No need to get your knickers in a twist. It'll take more that some trumped up Hell God with bad hair to take down the Big Bad."

"I was so worried. I thought I'd never see you again. And I kept thinking about how you'd never make me chocolate chip pancakes or teach me another card game or, or...and it would be all my fault..." She trailed off, once again hiding her face against Spike's cool skin as tears rolled unchecked down her flushed cheeks.

"That's enough of that now, Dawn." He said firmly, pulling her face up so that she was forced to look him in the eye. With a tenderness that belied his vampiric nature, he brushed a hand over her hair and settled it on her cheek. "Nothing is your fault. Do you understand me? I would have gladly died to make sure you live, but I didn't. I'm right here. And it doesn't do to dwell on what might have been, 'Bit. Just know that I'm here now and I don't plan on ever leaving. Got it?"

She nodded and scrubbed her hands over her face, ridding her checks of the tear streaks that had marred them. "I'm tired."

"Then go back to bed, 'Bit." He said with a chuckle. "I'll still be here in the morning, yeah?"

"Yeah, you will." With a quick peck on his cheek, Dawn headed back up to her room. Still, she couldn't help throwing one more brief glance his way to assure herself that he was still there. He waited until she was completely out of sight to hobble around the counter and slouch tiredly one of the bar stools there.

"You can come out now, Slayer." Spike directed towards the darkened doorway between the dining room and the kitchen where Buffy stood in shadow. He'd been aware of her presence as he comforted Dawn, but hadn't felt the need to address it. At the moment, Dawn had needed his undivided attention.

"How are your ribs?" Buffy spoke softly. "Looked like she was squeezing you a little too hard."

"Nothing a big, evil vampire like me can't take." He tried to smirk around his split lips, but didn't quite succeed. He was racking his brain for something reassuring to say into the not uncomfortable silence when he caught sight of the water welling up in his Slayer's hazel eyes. "What's this all about, kitten. Why're you crying?"

"I woke up and you were gone." Buffy stepped into his personal space and placed a hand against his cheek. "I thought...I, I...I don't know what I thought, but I was worried." Her hand dropped from his face, falling to interlace with his own where it hung at his side. She pressed her forehead into his collarbone and mumbled against him. If it hadn't been for his superior supernatural hearing, he wouldn't have picked up the whispered plea. "Please don't leave me again."

Ignoring his protesting limps, he wrapped his arms tightly around the tiny woman and pressed her closer to him. "Never." He said with a vehemence that left no room for argument. "You'll have to dust me to get rid of me now, Slayer, 'cause I'm never letting you go. I promise you, I'll never let go."

"I can handle that." Buffy said with a watery smile. She starred into his bright blue gaze for an eternity before standing on her tiptoes and brushing her warm lips against his cool ones in a chaste kiss. Their first _real_ kiss. "I can definitely handle that."

A/N #2 - So how was that? Was the ending okay? Review please!!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N - Hello my lovelies! So, I think this fic is almost finished. I'm in the process of wrapping things up...and I'm contemplating a sequel. In the mean time, here's the next chapter! And I know my sequence of events might be a little messed up ('cause if I recall, the Scoobies didn't know Glory was a God until after the Council's brief involvement, right?), but please bear with me. And I can't remember what was going on in the Angelverse during the BTVS fifth season so I apologize if I screw up that timeline, too. And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE read and review!! Okay, now this authors note is done.

DISCLAIMER: If I owned the Buffyverse there would have been mucho more Spuffy love and a very happy Spuffy ending...and possibly more naked James Marsters-ness. But I own nothing so HURRAY for fanfiction!

The Visitor - Chapter 11

Buffy had thought telling her friends and loved ones that she was once again romantically involved with a vampire - especially one sans soul - would be difficult at least. Perhaps that's why the lack of protests and uproar at her announcement that she and Spike were officially an item was so surprising. Not even Xander, who Buffy was sure would lead the "Stake Spike Brigade", raised a fuss.

"Does he make you happy?" He'd asked simply. At her affirmative nod, a small accepting smile creased the corners of the carpenter's mouth. "Then I'm cool with it. I just want you to be happy, Buffy...even if happy equals William the Bloody crashing our movie nights. And hey, at least he's good at pool, right? Giles never comes out with us and I've needed some more testosterone to even out our group dynamics for awhile now so I'm not complaining. Plus, Anya said she'd flog me if I tried to stop you from getting involved with Fangless."

And Giles, anti-vampire Watcher extraordinaire, turned out to be more intellectually curious about Buffy and Spike's budding relationship than reproving of it. He seemed highly interested in questioning the bleached vamp about his apparent moral turnabout and defection to the "white hats."

And so now everyone was gathered in the Summers' living room, ready to pick-up the pow wow where'd they'd left off the previous day before Spike's unexpected vamp-napping.

"I hereby call this meeting of the Scooby gang to order. First item of business," Xander said, trying sound official while banging an abnormally large pretzel stick gavel-style on the coffee table, "who ate the last jelly donut?"

Willow smiled sheepishly, "Sorry Xand. I think there's a bear claw left if you want it."

"A bear claw? But there's no tangy fruit filling in a bear claw…"

"Honey, don't pout." Anya commanded from her perch on the arm of her boyfriend's chair. "It's unbecoming and not very manly."

"Yeah, _Xand_. Wouldn't want anyone thinkin' _you_ were unmanly, now would you?"

"Shut-up, Evil Dead." Xander grumbled, lobbing his pretzel at the vampire stretched out on the couch. "You're lucky you're injured or I'd show you just how manly I am."

Spike wheezed a pained chuckle, wincing when his still mending ribs grated against each other. "Cor, whelp. I don't know if that was a threat or a come-on. Either way, I'm shakin' in my boots."

"Oh yeah? Well…"

"Boys." Joyce scolded while arranging the plates of various snack foods on the table. "Didn't Buffy make a 'No Bickering' rule? You wouldn't want me to tell her you were snarking at each other, would you?" Both offending parties shook their heads quickly, their fear of Slayer retribution trumping their need to one-up each other.

"Speaking of Buffy, where is she?" Giles questioned as he emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray of soft drinks and a lone mug of blood.

"I'm right here." The Slayer called as she bounded into the room while pulling her hair into a messy ponytail. Grabbing a handful of crackers and a Coke, she nudged Spike up slightly and slid underneath him so that his upper body rested against her legs. "Dawn is officially safe and sound in her room, not eavesdropping on our little get together. So, let's get this show on the road. Giles, you were going to tell us some big new about our favorite Hell God?"

"Oh, yes." The Watcher swiped at his glasses, a sure sign that he was going into full lecture mode. "Well, I had suspected for quite some time that the Council would be able to provide a vast array of knowledge on Glory but…considering your previous relationship with my former employers, Buffy, I worried that this information would not be handed over willingly. Fortunately I was able to convince one of my few remaining…_contacts _at Council headquarters that preventing an apocalypse is much more important than any grudge Quentin Tavers may have against us."

He paused for a moment, nibbling on a potato chip before once again launching into his long-winded explanation. "Much of the information that my, erm, _contact_ gave me was useless, things that we ourselves had already found in our own research. There was one fact, however, that was new to me and I feel that it will be the key to beating Glory."

"Well, what is it?" Buffy huffed impatiently when Giles took another extended pause.

"Give the man a mo', Pet." Spike nodded in his fellow Brit's direction. "A fellow's got to have time to build the suspense, yeah? Dramatic tension and all the rot."

"Yes well," Giles threw a glare the vampire's way, "it appears that when the God Glorificus was expelled from her dimension into our own she was imprisoned in the body of a mortal, a human."

"So," Tara said softly, blushing when several sets of eyes landed on her, "Glory is sharing a body with somebody here in Sunnydale?"

"Yes, if the Council's information is correct, it would appear so." Giles nodded at the shy witch before turning to address his Slayer. He lost his train of thought, though, when he saw Buffy running her fingers soothingly through Spike's dyed locks.

"What's wrong? Why so tense all of the sudden?" She inquired softly, smoothing her palm across his forehead.

"I thought that I was seeing things, hallucinating because of the pain but…" The blonde vamp was murmuring.

"When you were with Glory? What did you see, Spike?" Giles asked urgently.

"The Hell Bint, she turned into a bloke right in front of me. She started shaking like she was having some kind of fit and then poof, there was a man standing there wearing her dress. He took one look at me all trussed up in chains, said he was sorry and then took off. It wasn't too long after that that you lot came and got me. I didn't say anything 'cause I thought I was losing my bloody mind, but I guess not."

"Bloody hell." Giles murmured. "Can you describe this man, Spike? It is imperative that we find out who he is right away."

"That's the thing, mate," Spike pulled himself into a sitting position with Buffy's assistance, "I recognized the poor sod. He's an intern at the hospital. I saw him there while Joyce was in recovery."

Willow's face lit up with recognition. "The guy you snarled at for waking Dawn?"

"Yep, that would be the one, Red."

"Ben. His name is Ben." Joyce supplied. "I remember because he asked me about you, Buffy."

"He asked about me? What did he want to know?"

"He wanted to know if you were single. I lied and told him no, that Spike was your boyfriend. Call it mother's intuition, but I just felt like there was something not quite right with him."

"Guess you were right...and psychic. Why did you tell him that Spike was my boyfriend?"

"I figured that Ben would leave you alone if he thought you had an overly possesive, snarly boyfriend." Joyce smiled fondly at Spike. "Plus, I always thought he would be a much better match for you than Riley was."

"Wish you had told me sooner." The Slayer readjusted her position on the couch, making sure that her vampire was comfortable before turning to her Watcher. "So, what do we do now? It's not like I can just go kill Ben. I mean, he's human, right? Killing humans is kind of against the Slayer code."

"There appears to be a limited time frame in which Glory can use the Key's energy to open a portal between the dimensions." Giles once again removed his glasses, polishing them in an infamous act of agitation. "If we are somehow able to contain Ben until the opening for dimensional travel is over, Glory would remain trapped on our plane and Dawn could no longer be used as a Key."

"Ooh," Willow nearly leapt out of her seat, "maybe we could magically bind him."

"I don't think we'd be able to bind Glory for any significant amount of time, honey." Tara brushed a stray lock of hair out of Willow's eyes. "You're strong, but even with my help I don't think we'd be able to contain a God."

"We could leave Sunnydale." Anya suggested, refusing to blanch under the several incredulous stares that were thrown her way.

"You mean, like, run away?" Buffy choked out. "I know you haven't really experienced an apocalypse Scooby style, but running away is just not something we do. We stay and we fight no matter how big the bad is."

The ex-vengeance demon scoffed at the room at large. "I never said we should _run away_. I said we should _leave_. There's clearly a difference. Why stay here and risk Glory getting her claw-like hands on Dawnie when we could just take a mini-vacation of sorts until her window of opportunity to destroy the world is over?"

Silence fell over the group as everyone took a moment to process Anya's idea. A brief eternity passed before Buffy turned to the man beside her. "What do you think?

"It's actually not a bad idea, pet." Spike locked eyes with his Slayer. "Think about it. We could take the 'Bit and hold up somewhere safe until she can't open anything more that a peanut butter jar. If, after everything's over, Glory is still a problem we'll handle it. She might not be too chuffed that we took away her only means of getting home, but at least she won't be able to release all her hell beasties on the world anymore. We'll deal with her when we have to but for now let's just get Dawn away from here. It shouldn't be too hard to find a place to squirrel the 'Bit away until everything blows over."

"We would all have to go." Giles contributed, cottoning on to the idea. "Once Glory realizes that the Slayer has gone - most likely taking the key with her - she'll come after those closest to Buffy."

"Where could we all go though?" Xander finally seemed to come out of the mini-coma he'd slipped into at the beginning of the meeting. "We need some place big enough to house all nine of us together. Splitting up never worked out for the real Scooby gang."

"I think I know a place." Buffy offered hesitantly, studiously avoiding Spike's questioning gaze.

* * *

Things were, for once, quiet at the Hyperion. Angel was actually in a pretty good mood and quite content to spend the day in a comfy chair, reading his overrated French poetry. His good humor was shot, though, when he heard Cordelia's voice ring from one of the lower levels.

"Angel! Phone for you. I think its Buffy."

A/N – Ahhh, kind of a cliffy. Please don't flog me!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N – What's up my homies? Warning: This is going to be a rather long-winded (Giles-esque, if you will) Author's Note.

**First**, THANK YOU to all my reviewers!! You ladies and gents really make my day when you give me feedback! Seriously, ask my roommate. She'll tell you that I do a happy dance when I get an email saying I've gotten a review. So…THANK YOU! **Second**, I had a reviewer ask me about the spell that – in the show – made everyone forget they'd seen a Glory/Ben transformation and how this bit of magic played into The Visitor. I figured that, in my story, since Spike _tells_the Scoobies about Glory's 180 from a woman to a man instead of them actually _seeing_ it for themselves the spell is null and void. I hope that's okay! **Third**, I know a lot of people were anticipating this chapter and the Scoobies arrival at A.I. in L.A. so I hope I did a good job! Here it is! Tell me what you think! Please read and review!

P.S. I know that technically there should be lots of crazy stuff going on in the Angelverse right about now, but we're just going to pretend that none of that exists so Angel can play happy hostess for our weary band of buggered Scoobies!

DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon owns Buffy. I am not Joss Whedon, therefore, I do not own Buffy. Don't sue!

The Visitor – Chapter 12

It was with sleepy eyes that Buffy first gazed upon the Hyperion Hotel. She glanced briefly at the structure, noting that it was probably once very grand, before a yawn escaped passed her lips and her eyes scrunched closed in reflex.

Her brief nap on the trek from Sunnydale to L.A. had only served to remind her just how tired she really was. She hadn't intended to fall asleep at all, but the gentle rocking of the car gliding along the highway and the perfect pillow provided by Spike's leather clad shoulder lulled her to sleep before the Slayer half of her brain could rally for constant vigilance. Entirely too soon though, her pillow was shaking her gently awake.

And so here she stood, leaning slightly on her vampire while her friends and family packed tightly around them. It seemed everyone was taking the "strength in numbers" mentality to heart.

"Are you sure about this, Buff?" Xander asked, starring up at the opposing form of the Hyperion with a suitcase in his hand. "I mean, maybe we could just get back on the road and…"

"No," Buffy cut him off, "we'll stay here. Where else can we go? Sea World? Right now this is probably the safest place we could be so…let's just get the rest of the bags and get inside."

There was a flurry of movement as everyone converged on the two vehicles parked in the alleyway. Willow, Tara, Dawn – who had also ridden with Spike – pulled their luggage from the trunk of the vampire's beat up black Desoto while the other's unloaded the Summers' SUV.

"Here, 'Bit," Spike said, nudging Dawn away from the boot of his precious car, "I'll carry your things. You go help your mum."

"Well aren't you just the perfect gentleman." Xander snarked, throwing his duffel bag over his shoulder.

"Maybe you should take a page out of his book, Alexander Harris." Anya chided huffily as she struggled with her own load.

"But Ahn, your bag isn't even that heavy…" One look from the ex-demon stopped him mid-sentence. "Sorry, honey."

"Yes, well," she said, gladly handing her luggage over, "you should be."

"Are you sure Angel is okay with this, Buffy?" Willow questioned while tactfully ignoring the bickering couple. "I just can't see Angel being too happy about us all showing up on his doorstep."

The Slayer shrugged. "He said he was. And it's too late for him to back-out now 'cause we're already here."

The witch nodded slightly before her mouth dropped open as a sudden and disconcerting thought occurred to her. "He did know that he was taking _all_ of us in, didn't he?" She darted her eyes in Spike's direction.

"Of course."

"Really? 'Cause the last time I checked, Spike and Angel didn't really have an 'I'll give you sanctuary' type of relationship. In fact, the last time Angel saw Spike there was some sort of torture involved, right?"

"He wouldn't try to hurt Spike, would he?" Tara asked, a note of genuine worry in her tone.

"No, he wouldn't." Buffy said with more confidence than she felt. Angel knows that Spike's harmless now thanks to the Initiative's chip and that he's been helping us out for awhile. And I made both of them swear that there would be no dusting attempts from either one of them."

"Well, if you're sure…"

"I am." Buffy said confidently, hoping to silence anymore doubts. "Come on, let's get the big reunion over with. I'm tired and…

"And a sleepy Slayer equals a cranky and ineffectual Slayer." Dawn piped up, making her way to her sister's side. "And nobody wants that."

"Exactly. Let's go."

The weary band of travelers made their way around to the front of the hotel and wandered into the empty reception area.

"Hello?" Buffy called. "Anyone home?"

"Good God, I thought I graduated from high school." Cordelia descended the stairs casually and smirked at the visitors from her former life.

"Cordy," Xander was the first to reply, "good to see that you haven't changed."

She laughed softly and quipped, "Sorry I can't say the same about you."

"Hey, that's not anyway to talk to your guest."

"You're not _my_ guest. You're Angel's. I can talk to you however I want."

"Cordelia," a baritone voice admonished from the shadows that edged around the spacious room, "be nice."

"Whatever, _boss_. I'm out of here. Dennis'll get worried if I'm home too late. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess." With barely a fleeting glance at the Scoobies, Cordelia breezed out of the front doors.

"Dennis?" Xander and Willow muttered in tandem.

"He's her ghost. It's a long story." Angel explained simply, finally emerging from the darkness.

Buffy felt a pang of loss when her heart failed to race at the sight of her first love. Logically, she knew that she was no longer the naïve young girl in love with the idea of a tortured man seeking redemption, but, even still, realizing that that part of her no longer existed still stung. Unconsciously she edged towards Spike, seeking the comfort that his nearness always seemed to bring.

"Angel." She said, proud of how unaffected she sounded.

"Buffy." He responded in kind although his eyes flickered briefly to the lack of space between her and Spike. An awkward silence fell, no one knowing quite what to say.

"So," Spike, unable to take the quiet any longer, blurted, "are any of the rooms serviceable or is this just a great big shell, Peaches? It's a tad late and way past the 'Bit's bedtime."

The glare that Angel sent his wayward childer would have dusted a lesser vamp, but Spike simply cocked his blonde head to the side and grinned cheekily.

"Of course," the older vamp said through clenched teeth, "let me show you to your rooms."

Everyone traipsed up the stairs, dragging bags and suitcases with them. "Why are you not renting rooms out to the public?" Anya asked as they stopped on a landing. "You could be making money by charging people to stay here."

"Umm, I don't…" Angel began, clearly taken aback by Anya's forthright manner.

"You charge people when you help them with their supernatural troubles, correct?"

"Most of the time."

"Why not just fix up this crap heap hotel? You'd earn a much better wage making tourists pay to spend the night here. Make up some stories about how historical it is and retired couples in matching flower print shirts will scramble to snatch up a vacancy. Plus, it'd probably be more ethical to run a hotel than it is to charge the hopeless for helping them. Right?"

"Umm…"

"I think she's got a point, Peaches." Spike's jaw ticked with his effort to keep a straight face. "Doesn't really seem right for the champion of the Powers That Be to beat up badies for money, does it?"

"At least I can still beat things up, Spike." Angel sneered. "Still impotent, William?"

"You might want to remember that I can still do damage to a demon without so much as a twinge of pain, Angelus."

"Where are our rooms?" Buffy spoke quickly, hoping to diffuse the growing tension between and past and current boyfriend.

"The first five rooms down this hallway are for you. I assumed you all could figure out who's rooming together yourselves. I'll leave you to it. We can talk in the morning after you've all rested." Angel nodded and turned to leave. He'd made it half way down the hall before he stopped dead – no pun intended – in his tracks at an innocent question put forth by Dawn.

"Are you and Spike sharing a room, Buffy?"

"What?" Angel pivoted to once again face the group. His eyes once again jumped to the mere sliver of space between Buffy and Spike. "Buffy, why would you and he be sharing a room?"

"Umm, we…"

"They're dating." Anya supplied cheerfully. "Didn't you know? I, personally, have always thought they would end up together. They're quite compatible, after all. Not to mention that Spike seems like he would be very good at giving Buffy many pleasurable orga…"

Anya's rambling was abruptly cut off by the loud thump of Angel's bulky body hitting the floors worn carpeting.

"Well," Buffy shrugged, "that actually went better than I expected."

A/N #2 – I know, another cliffy. I should probably be flogged! So, what did you think? Please review!!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N – Thank you, thank you, thank you sooooo much to everyone who has read and reviewed!! I know I said thank you in my last author's note, but I didn't feel like saying it once truly showed my appreciation for everyone who has encouraged me to continue this story so…THANK YOU! Anywho, here's the next chapter! Please continue to read, review and hopefully enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I live in a tiny little dorm in a tiny little college in a tiny little Indiana town. Do you really think I own anything of importance? Don't Sue!!

The Visitor – Chapter 13

"Is he gonna be alright?" Dawn asked, taking a cautious step forward and lightly kicking Angel in the thigh. When the fallen vampire failed to react she merely kicked him harder. "I think he's dead. Like, really dead."

"He's not dead, 'Bit, be dust if he was. He's just unconscious. Gotta say though, in all my unlife I've never seen a vamp faint before. What a ponce! Bet I can wake him up…" Spike stepped forward and sank into a crouch next to Angel's head. With a slightly more evil than normal smirk, he reached out a pale hand and rested his palm on the elder vampire's head. For a moment it looked like he was going to attempt an old time revival healing before, with a sudden flick of the wrist, Spike plucked a single hair from Angel's coiffed tresses.

Everyone, excluding Spike, involuntarily flinched when Angel abruptly sat up, his hands immediately jumping to his hair in a frantic search to make sure everything was still in place. His worry for the state of his "do" would have been comical if the look in his eyes wasn't so murderous. "You've got six seconds, Spike. Six seconds to get as far away from me as you possibly can, because if you don't I'll…"

"You'll what?" Spike challenged. "Gonna smother me in hair gel?

"I should have dusted you the minute Drusilla brought you home. I knew you'd be trouble. But no, I just had to let her have her little lapdog. And what do I get for my generosity? You've been nothing but a disappointment for 120-fucking-years."

"How would you know _what_ I've been for 120 years, mate? You spent roughly 90 of those years eating rats and crying in alleyways about how pitiful and tortured your existence is."

"That's enough, boy." Angel lunged at Spike suddenly, knocking the smaller demon on his back. Thinking quickly, Spike used the momentum of the fall to flip his elder over, catching him in the jaw with a quick but effective jab before scrambling to his feet and bracing himself for a counterattack.

"Up you get, Peaches." He said, bouncing restlessly on the balls of his feet. "I think it's about time me and you resolved some of our issues, don't you?"

"Buffy! Stop them!" Dawn cried, her worry for Spike a palpable entity.

The Slayer shrugged one shoulder in an act of feigned indifference although her own concern for the bleached vamp now rolling across the hotel hallway trading blows with her girlhood crush was readily apparent. "Meh, I'll step in if it looks like anyone is in danger of a dusty ending. Until then I think we should let them have their little pissing contest. It'll make our stay here much more pleasant if we don't have to listen to them snip at each other the entire time."

"I agree with Buffy." Giles nodded. "They're like pack animals fighting to establish an alpha-male." The Watcher polished his glasses disinterestedly and casually stepped out of the way as the warring vampires rolled in his direction.

"Oooh, we should make popcorn!" Anya suddenly announced, tugging excitedly on Xander's arm. "This is exactly like that stupid staged wrestling you watch on the television except it's real and the participants are much more attractive…and they're vampires…"

"How long do you think they'll keep this up?" Willow gestured to where Spike had Angel pinned up against a door, repeatedly punching him in the face.

"Two or three hours at least." Buffy answered, wincing when Angel broke Spike's hold and landed a lucky kidney shot. "I don't know about Angel, but Spike only gets _more_ riled up the longer he fights. He loves it, says it's like dancing." A dreamy look crept into the Slayer's eyes as she watched her vampire fight, the corners of her mouth quirking upward when he dropped low and knocked Angel's feet out from under him.

"Maybe you should stop them now, Buffy. It's late and I'm ready for bed." Joyce said tiredly. She was leaning rather heavily on Dawn, her eyelids dropping in clear exhaustion.

"I don't know if she would be able to break them up at the moment." Giles, being a true English gentleman, took Joyce's elbow and led her to a decorative high back chair sitting outside one of the rooms. "They've given in to their basest demon instincts, currently nothing more than animals. They wouldn't respond to her if she called to them and I'm afraid if Buffy were to physically get in between them, she would be injured."

"Are you alright, Mrs. Summers?" Tara asked worriedly. "You look sort of pale."

"Mom?" Immediately Buffy was at her mother's side. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, dear. Just a little dizzy is all. And I've got a bit of a headache. Nothing to be worried about."

"Maybe we should go to the hospital just in case. Buffy?" Dawn fidgeted with the ends of her hair. "Just to be sure, yeah?"

Joyce swayed in her seat, quickly gripping the arm rests to keep herself upright. "I-I'm feeling a little faint."

"Alright, we're going. Giles, grab her other arm." Together Slayer and Watcher pulled the eldest Summers woman from her perch, supporting the majority of her weight between them.

"Buffy, this isn't necessary. I'll be fine." Joyce insisted although her voice sounded suspiciously strained.

"Dawnie," Buffy ignored her protestations, "grab mom's purse."

"What about Spike?" The teen questioned, hefting the tote high unto her shoulder.

"Oh, yeah." In light of her mother's apparent ill-health, Buffy had completely forgotten about the still tussling vampires. "SPIKE!"

"He's too far gone, Buffy. The fight is the most important thing to him now. Simply calling for him will be most ineffective for…" Giles trailed off as Spike landed a two-footed kick to Angel's chest, launching the other vamp down the hall before shaking off his vampiric ridges and turning towards the group huddled around Joyce.

"Slayer? What's wrong, Pet?" His face was cut and bruised and rapidly drying blood matted his brightly colored hair, but none of that mattered at the moment. Something was wrong with_ his_ girls and that just wouldn't do.

"Moms sick. We're taking her to the hospital."

"We'll go in my car. The backseats bigger so she'll be able to lie down if she wants."

The group began to make their way towards the stairs, Spike replacing Giles at Joyce's side. They were halfway to the exit when a bellow caused them to pause.

"Wait!" Angel ran to catch up. "What's going on? What're you doing?"

Spike was the first to respond. "We're leaving, you bloody ponce. What does it look like we're doing? Gotta get Joyce to the hospital."

"But…," Angel floundered, "our fight. We weren't finished. You can't just leave..."

"'m gonna have to take a rain check on that, Peaches. Got more important things to do at the moment. Don't worry though, I'll be back to finish kicking your ass in no time." And with that they left, Giles muttering softly all the while about unusual vampires refusing to follow their nature…

A/N #2 – Well, there it is. What do you think? Please read and review!!

P.S. The next chapter will contain the hospital visit, a long overdue talk with Angel, and an epiphany for our favorite Watcher…


	15. Chapter 15

A/N – Well, my lovelies, when I first started this story I didn't think it would be any longer than ten chapters. And here I am, 14 chapters (and one Author's Note posted as a chapter…still sorry about that) later. I hope that everyone is still enjoying this! Let me know if you are or aren't…READ AND REVIEW!!

P.S. I don't know a hell of a lot about medical stuff. I pretend like I do later on in this chapter, but I really don't. I hope everything sounds authentic, but if it doesn't, please don't hate me because I did my best.

DISCLAIMER: Last night I wished on a shooting star and the Buffyverse still isn't mine…drats. Oh well, fanfiction is just as good. Don't sue!!

The Visitor – Chapter 14

"How long can they keep her in there?" Buffy paced up and down the brightly lit hospital hallway, nervously folding and unfolding a medical pamphlet on communicable diseases. "I mean, she's fine, right? And if she's fine then there's no reason for them to keep her here. But we've already been here for an hour so maybe she's not fine. What do I do if she's not fine? Or maybe the doctors here aren't as good as her doctor in Sunnydale. Should we call the doctor in Sunnydale? Or…"

"Buff, calm down. I'm sure nothings wrong. The doctors are just being thorough. And thorough is good, right?" Xander tried to placate her.

"No, thorough is not good. Thorough is definitely of the bad, the very bad. Thorough means that they think something is wrong, but they don't know what it is so they're probably running tons of painful tests on her and..."

"Slayer!" Spike gently grabbed Buffy's upper arms, effectively preventing her from completing another lap in her restless pacing. "You've got to calm down. Worrying yourself sick isn't going to help anyone. Now come sit down and rest for a bit."

With only minimal resistance, Spike pulled her over to one the waiting room's stiff little couches. He sat first, tugging the Slayer down into his lap once he was settled. It wasn't long before Dawn joined them, curling up against Spike's side and resting her head on his shoulder. Despite Buffy's protests that she wouldn't be able to rest until she knew her mother was okay within minutes both girls were dozing, trusting that their vampire would protect them in their slumber.

Giles observed them for a long moment, noting uncomfortably how very much like a family they looked. He'd watched as Dawn slowly drifted off to sleep, Spike's arm draped protectively around her. He watched as one of the most infamous vampires in history, the Slayer of Slayers, gently stroked _his_ Slayer's hair with his free hand while quietly murmuring words of comfort and reassurance.

He watched and watched, trying to make sense of something as nonsensical as a soulless demon being capable of such a human emotion; love. It wasn't possible, was it? Or was it? If the saying about every rule having an exception was true, than Spike was definitely an exception because it was all too clear that he was, in fact, capable of love. Only someone blinded by ignorance and prejudice would be able to ignore how deeply the once infamous William the Bloody felt for the Summers' women and Giles silently vowed never to allow his sight to be muddled again.

"Rupes? What are you starin' at, mate? Got something on my face?" Spike asked, pulling Giles from his inner musings.

"Oh no," the elder Brit – in appearance, at least – replied, "just lost in my thoughts."

"Imagine that." The bleached vamp commented dryly.

"Yes well, I was thinking about you actually."

"That's flattering, Watcher. Really, it is. But you're not exactly my type, yeah? So…"

"No, you dolt." Giles cut him off irritably. "I was thinking about how unlike a normal vampire you are. You've gone completely against your nature and committed yourself to protecting the Slayer's family, fighting alongside the people's Chosen Warrior for the forces of light instead of darkness. It's all very…noble, don't you think?"

"Noble?" Spike sounded offended, clearly trying to hold onto the last vestiges of his Big Bad image. "Don't make me sound like such a ponce, Rupes. I'm not Angel, ain't got a shiny soul to show me wrong from right."

"No, no you don't…but you don't need one, do you? You can love without it and that is simply incredible."

"Yeah, well…," the blonde demon began, "love isn't about some ethereal part of you that amounts to nothing more than a fancy conscious. Love's about blood; following your blood to wherever it leads you. And right now," he gazed at the sleeping girls wrapped around him, "my blood's telling me that I've finally come home."

* * *

It was well into the early hours of the morning when the doctor overseeing Joyce's treatment finally emerged from the examination room.

He was a pleasant looking man, in his mid-to-late forties with salt and pepper hair and a good build. With his black rimmed glasses pushed high up on his nose and a stethoscope hanging around his neck he looked…professional, like he knew exactly what he was doing. And that, more than anything, eased Buffy's earlier worries about the ability of the doctors entrusted to care for her mother.

"Miss Summers?" He called as he entered the waiting room.

"That's me!" Buffy untangled herself from Spike's embrace and bounded over to the doctor. "So, what's the word? Is my mom okay? Can we take her home? Well, it's not really home. We're just visiting L.A., staying in a hotel that a…friend owns. But, even so, I'd really like to take my mom back there. That is, if there's nothing wrong…"

The doctor – whose name tag identified him as Dr. Richard Mortego – smiled briefly at Buffy's nervous rambling before his face once again turned serious. "I'm afraid you're mother will not be leaving the hospital tonight."

"Why not?" Spike, who had moved instinctively to the Slayer's side, questioned.

"And you are?" The doctor took in Spike's bright hair and dark clothing, cocking an appraising eyebrow at the leather clad vamp.

"Name's William, mate. 'M a close friend of the family."

"He's my boyfriend." Buffy hastily explained, not noticing the look of utter happiness that stole across Spike's face at the use of the word 'boyfriend. "So, about my mom…"

"Oh yes. Mrs. Summers had some clotting in her brain. It was putting pressure on the sensitive soft tissue there, causing the dizziness and light-headedness. Had it ruptured, she could have died. Luckily you got her here just in time and we were able to release the pressure with a relatively simple and in evasive procedure. She should be good as new by tomorrow afternoon."

"If she's fine," Giles moved to Buffy's free side, "why are you keeping her here?"

"I'd like to have her stay for observation for the next two days just to be safe. If, in forty-eight hours, everything appears to be fine, I'll send her home, er, or back to your hotel with a clean bill of health."

"When can we see her?" Buffy's shoulders slumped with relief and she unconsciously leaned back into Spike, trusting him to hold her upright.

"The nurses are finishing setting up the machines that will monitor your mother's vital signs and brain activity while she is under observation. When they're done, one of them will come and get you." And with that, the doctor was gone.

* * *

"Seriously, how long can it take to set up some monitors?" Dawn whined, starring petulantly at the clock above the T.V. mounted on the wall.

"A watched pot never boils, 'Bit."

"Okay Spike, you just sounded exactly like mom. She always says that and I don't even know what it means. I mean, who would want to watch a pot boil?"

"It's just an expression, Dawnie." Buffy brushed a lock of hair out of her sister's face. "Why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll wake you up when we can see mom."

Dawn curled up in an arm chair in the corner of the room, her back towards the clock. Buffy glanced at the dozing Scoobies laying pell-mell against each other on two of the hospital-issue couches and at Giles slumped in the chair across from Dawn's with a book opened wide on his lap. At first glance it looked like he was merely engrossed in his reading, but upon further inspection his closed eyelids and light snores became evident.

"You need to rest too, pet." Spike asserted, reaching for her hand and pulling her down next to him on the loveseat-like piece of furniture he'd settled on. With her hand still intertwined with her vampire's, Buffy let her head fall onto the back of the mini-couch as her eyes slipped close.

"Wake me if anything happens." She exhaled as she let sleep take over.

It felt like only moments later she was being gently shaken awake. "Peaches is coming." Spike sighed resignedly.

"What?" Buffy's head snapped up, eyes scanning the surrounding area. Sure enough, Angel's hulking form was trudging down the hospital corridor in their direction.

"Buffy!" He called out to her as soon as he was in range. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, but I didn't know which hospital you were at and I had, uh, some thinking to do before I came."

"_Thinking_ to do? More like brooding to do." Spike snickered.

"When are you going to learn to keep quiet, boy?" The elder vamp growled. "That big mouth of yours is just going to make things worse for you in the long run."

Spike moved to stand, but the gentle pressure of Buffy's hand on his forearm kept him in his seat while she stood from her own. "What are you here for, Angel?"

"I thought you might need me. You know, for moral support."

"I'm actually pretty okay. Spike does a really good job at the whole 'shoulder to cry on' thing."

A pained look passed over Angel's face and his eyes flashed gold briefly as he threw his wayward vampiric relation a withering glance. "But Buffy, do you really think it's wise to allow him around your friends and family. I know he's virtually harmless with the chip in his head, but he's still a monster and…"

"Hey," Spike protested, "I'm right here, you ponce. If you're going to talk about me at least do it behind my back where I can't see you."

"Buffy," Angel ignored Spike, instead turning his tried-and-true kicked puppy look on his former girlfriend, "why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Why are you with Spike? I thought you were happy with Riley. You know, the human? The nice, normal human male. But I turn my back for a second and you're with _Spike._" He spat the name out as though disgusted. "Is it because he's a vampire? Are you trying to use him as a-a stand-in, of sorts, for me? Buffy, if you're doing this because you can't be with me then…"

The girl in question's soft giggle cut through Angel's diatribe like a butter knife. "Are you really that conceited? I'm not with Spike because I want to be with you, but can't. I'm with Spike because I want to be with Spike. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

"He's a monster, Buffy. He doesn't have a soul and…"

"He doesn't need one. He can love without it."

"Love?" Angel laughed bitterly. "What makes you so sure he can love?"

"He spent a hundred years taking care of loony Dru. If that's not love then I don't know what is."

"That was different. Every vampire feels a certain loyalty to their sire. That's not proof that he can love."

Spike looked like he wanted to protest for a moment, but was saved the trouble when Buffy came to his defense.

"Well, how about the fact that he allowed himself to be tortured to protect my baby sister from a Hell God? Or the fact that he watched over my mother while she was in the hospital in Sunnydale – without my knowledge, so don't even try to say he did it for some personal gain – to make sure that she was protected from any beastie that might've decided it would be a good idea to go after the Slayer's sick mother? Or how about the fact that he _stays_, Angel. No matter how hard things get, he stays where he's needed. He doesn't leave the people he supposedly cares about 'for their own good'."

The jab at Angel's less than ideal departure from Sunnydale caused the vamp to wince and he hung his head sadly, a defeated and unneeded breath sighing passed his lips when he realized that there was nothing he could say that would change Buffy's mind about Spike. "This isn't what I wanted for you."

"But it's _my_life, Angel. I'm the one who has to live it so shouldn't what I want matter? And, just so we're perfectly clear, I want Spike. I know you had some big picture in your head of me settling down with some human guy, having lots of little babies, and living happily ever after…but that's never going to happen for me. And, to be honest, I don't know if having a Betty Crocker future would make me happy. It's just..."

"Uh, Buff?" Xander suddenly appeared at her side, smiling apologetically at the interruption. "A nurse just came and said we can see your mom now so…"

"You guys head on back. I'll be there in just a moment." She turned to Spike, who'd be unnaturally quiet throughout her entire not-really-an-argument with Angel. "Go with Dawnie?"

"Of course, pet." He rose from his seat and gave Buffy a quick peck on the cheek (secretly reveling in the pinched look on his poof of a grandsire's face) before making his way to the still sleeping teen and easily scooping her slight frames up into his arms. "Don't be long, luv. Your mum'll be anxious to see you."

Once they were alone in the waiting room, Angel attempted once again to appeal to Buffy's senses and force her to see his reason. He'd barely opened his mouth, though, before she cut him off.

"Don't." She shook her head firmly. "Don't even try."

"So there's nothing I can say that will change anything?"

"Not a thing. I am with Spike and I will be with Spike no matter what anyone says."

"Then I guess we're done here, aren't we?" A small, sad smile graced his face.

"I guess we are."

"But Buffy...you'll always be my girl, right?"

"Angel," she sighed, "I'm not the girl you knew anymore. I grew up; you just weren't there to see it."

And with that she turned away, turning her back on a chapter in her life that was officially closed.

A/N #2 – So, what did you think? Was the Angel confrontation too much? Please, please, please read and review!! I'm anxious to hear what you have to say!!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N – Hello my beauteous readers! Can I just say how much I love my you guys…'cause it's a lot! Thank you, thank you, and thank you for your responses to the last chapter! You ladies and gents are amazing! Now, without further ado, here's the next chapter. Please read and review!

P.S. Oops, I guess there's a little more ado…I know I promised some reviewers that I would get this chappie out sooner than this and I just wanted to apologize for not making that happen. Life (and technical difficulties…stupid malfunctioning laptop) got in the way and I'm sorry. I truly didn't mean to take this long to update. Please forgive me!! Also, there is a small part of this chapter that eludes to one my one-shots called "Bronzing It." It is not at all necessary to read that story before reading this chapter, but I hope anyone who has read "Bronzing It" sees the connection!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, but we know this already, don't we? So…please don't sue me!

The Visitor – Chapter 15

"I'm so sick of hospital food!" Joyce Summers exclaimed, pushing a salisbury steak of questionable origin around a non-descript hospital tray.

"Guess it's a good thing the doctor said you can be discharged this afternoon, huh?" Buffy smiled, her relief at her mother's once again clean bill of health washing over the room in waves.

"And Spike said he'd cook for us tonight." Dawn bounced lightly on the end of the bed. "Anything you want, mom. You just have to choose."

"The hotel has a functioning kitchen?" Giles questioned.

"Yeah, apparently so." Buffy answered, crunching a dried leaf that had fallen from the flowers the Scoobies placed on the window sill to brighten the drab little room. "I don't think Angel uses it much though. He never was one for human food."

"Yeah," Dawn giggled, "Spike says he's a poof for denying himself the joy of 'that bloody blooming onion think'."

"Dawn!" Joyce admonished, trying to smother the amused smile tickling the corners of her mouth. "Don't call people _poofs._"

"But Spike does it."

"Yes, well," Giles nodded absently while polishing his glasses, "I suppose that's all the more reason for you _not _to do it."

"Vampires aren't exactly good role models, Dawnie. You should know this by now."

"'Vampires,' Miss Summers?" Buffy blushed deeply when she realized her mother's doctor had walked in on the tail end of their conversation.

"Oh no, umm…I said _um_pire." She amended quickly. "M-my boyfriend is an umpire."

"Ahh yes, the blonde fellow." The doctor smirked. "I met him the night your mother was admitted. I never would have guess that he was an umpire. Maybe a musician...or a mechanic, but not an umpire. Guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover, huh? He seemed quite protective of you ladies."

"Yup, that's him. My overprotective blonde boyfriend Spike…the umpire."

Giles cleared his throat, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from talk of Buffy's romantic entanglements. "Was there something pertaining to Mrs. Summers' stay here that you needed to discuss with us, doctor?"

"Oh yes, of course." The doctor turned to Joyce, a pleasant smile gracing his distinguished looking face. "Since you've been such a wonderful patient, I've decided to let you out early for good behavior. So long as you promise to take it easy and come back immediately if you feel even slightly out of sorts, you're free to go."

"Thank God! I thought I was going to go crazy if I had to spend the rest of the day here. No offence," Joyce offered the doctor a small, only slightly apologetic smile, "this is a very nice hospital, but I'm more than ready to sleep in a bed without adjustability controls."

"None taken. Trust me, I start to feel a little twitchy myself if I put too many hours in here."

"How do we go about check-out?" Giles inquired.

"Just the usual procedure. A nurse will be in in a few minutes to disconnect Mrs. Summers from all the machines and she'll wheel her down to check herself out. Then you all can hit the proverbial road. As much as I like your strange little group, I don't want to see any of you in my emergency room for the rest of your stay in L.A. Take care of yourselves."

A young looking nurse with short black hair and a pixie-like face entered just as the doctor was leaving. "Are you ready to get out of here, Mrs. Summers?"

"Oh yes," Joyce couldn't stop a wide grin from spreading across her face, "let's get this show on the road."

A little while later, when Buffy followed the nurse out of the room and down the hall to sign her mother out, Dawn breathed a sigh of relief and giggled slightly.

"Ready to get away from here too, Dawnie?" Joyce asked.

"Ready to get back to the hotel." Dawn nodded. "I wish Spike had come with us today. I've been kind of worried all morning. Don't like the idea of Spike and Angel within dusting distance of each other without Buffy there to supervise, I guess."

"Don't fret, Dawn." Giles soothed. "I'm sure everything is fine."

* * *

"How long do you think this can go on? I mean, it's been two days. Surely he can't mope forever."

"Trust me, Tara. He can." Xander flipped through a comic book, studiously ignoring Angel's slumped form as the vampire sulked on the other side of the Hyperion's lobby. "We should just be glad he's down here and Spike is asleep upstairs 'cause I doubt we'd be able to keep them from killing each other if they decided to hash out their differences."

"Maybe we should do something, though. Buffy and the others will be back with Mrs. Summers in just a little while and…"

"It's no use, sweetie." Willow ran a comforting hand over Tara's dark blonde locks, frowning slightly as she did so. "Once Angel becomes Mr. Broodypants it'll take an apocalypse to snap him out of it."

"I can hear you, you know." Angel said suddenly without removing his eyes from the thick tomb sitting in his lap.

"Oh, well then...M-Mr. Broodypants is r-really a term of endearment." Willow stuttered, her cheeks tinting pink in embarrassment.

"How can you be okay with this?" Angel dismissed the red head's attempt at appeasement and finally looked up from his book.

Xander blinked slowly at the vampire's question before completely lowering his own reading material. "How can we be okay with _what_, Dead Boy? You gotta be more specific."

Angel floundered for a moment, clearly shocked that they didn't immediately know what he was talking about. "With Spike…and Buffy. Spike and Buffy together, as in…_together_ together. Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"No, no joke." Anya answered chirpily. "They're really together, as in _together_ together. We've all seen them kissing and holding hands and cuddling and..."

"But h-he's evil." Angel argued. "He's tried to kill each of you at least once."

"Um, actually," Tara blushed furiously when several sets of eyes turned to her, "h-he's never tried to kill m-me."

"Or me!" Anya waved her hand above her head enthusiastically.

"A-And he even s-saved me twice." Tara added.

"Saved you? How did Spike save you?" Angel's voice was full of incredulous disbelief.

"W-Well, first he punched me in the nose...but it was for a good reason. He was proving t-that I'm not a demon. And, you know," the normally shy Wicca's voice grew more confident as she defended her favorite vampire, "he didn't even hit me hard enough to make my nose bleed. And then, one night a-at the Bronze, h-he staked a vamp that was trying to drag m-me away."

Willow's dismayed, "You didn't tell me that," overlapped Xander's surprised, "So that's why you owe him a drink!"

Tara smiled apologetically at her girlfriend. "I-I didn't think it was all t-that important."

"Of course it's important. Anything that happens to you is important to me, baby."

Glancing away shyly, Tara continued. "B-But it doesn't matter now, because Spike saved me." The quieter witch turned her luminous eyes back on Angel. "He saved me a-and he didn't even let me buy him a drink afterwards. H-He's changed from the demon you used to know. And the m-man he is now is good for Buffy. She needs him. And if you t-try to get in between them then y-you don't really care for her as much as you want everyone to t-think you do."

Silence fell over the group as everyone took time to absorb Tara's almost-rant. It was only the sound of light clapping that broke them out of their quiet contemplation. Startled, they turned as one in the direction of the stairs only to find a shirtless Spike perched on the bottom step, leaning casually against the railing.

"How long have you been standing there?" Angel snapped, angry with himself for not sensing Spike's presence sooner.

"Long enough." He replied, catching Tara's eyes and smiling softly when their gazes locked. "Didn't know you liked me so much, Glinda."

The witch's face once again flamed crimson, but she didn't turn away from the bleach blonde's intense stare. "We relate, remember?"

"Yeah, pet. I remember."

"What are you talking about?" Xander piped up confusedly. "I'm not the only one who's lost, am I?"

Angel completely ignored the only human male in the room. "What did you want, Spike? Was there any particular reason you felt it necessary to force your company on us?" He sneered, advancing quickly into Spike's personal space.

"I promised the 'Bit I'd cook Joyce a 'Welcome Home' dinner tonight and I was just on my way to the kitchen to see what kind of kip you had when I heard your little pow-wow going on."

"You cook?" Xander pushed his way into the conversation hoping to waylay any possible physical altercation between the two posturing males.

"I've been un-alive for over a hundred years, whelp." Spike answered without breaking the apparent staring contest going on between he and his grandsire. "I've learned to do a lot of things."

"Are you toying with her, Spike?" Angel questioned abruptly. "Stringing her along until you find someway to kill her? Until you can figure out how to bag your third Slayer?"

"Could never kill her." The younger vamp growled. "Not even when I wanted to."

"Then what are you doing? Trying to get back at me for the way Angelus treated you?"

"Good God, peaches," Spike laughed bitterly, "you really are the most conceited git I've ever had the displeasure to meet. First you think Buffy's only with me because she can't have your overgrown forehead. And now you accuse me of being with her just to piss you off. When will you get it passed that helmet-like hair of yours and into your thick skull that nothing about what's between me and the Slayer has anything to do with you?"

"But…"

"No, no interruptions. You just listen to me for awhile. Can you do that? Just shut your gob for a millisecond and listen to what somebody else has to say?"

For a moment it looked like Angel was going to argue, but after a second of hesitation he snapped his mouth shut and nodded, glaring all the while.

"Right, then." Spike took a deep, unneeded breath and almost seemed to be preparing himself for battle before he began speaking. "What I feel for the Slayer is bigger than anything I've ever felt before. Not even Drusilla made me feel the way that Buffy does and it scares the hell out of me. She makes me want to be a better man, to turn my back on every natural instinct inside me and fight for the light. Hell, this is already the second time I've fought alongside her to try to stop some nutter," he glared pointedly at Angel, "from destroyingf the bloody world. And if there's a hundred more apocalypses I'll be by her side for each one without question, trying my hardest to earn whatever amount of affection she's willing to give me."

Spike paused to run a shaky hand through his platinum locks before continuing. "You think I don't realize she deserves so much more than I can give her? No matter how much I want her it doesn't change the fact that I know she's too good for me…too beautiful, too innocent to be forced into the darkness with some monster masquerading as a man, but for some reason I'll never completely understand she wants me too. And I'm too damn selfish and far too in love with her to let her go."

It wasn't until he finished his tirade that Spike realized his audience's eyes were focused on something behind him instead of his own tense form. A puzzled frown creased his brow as he turned to see what had captured everyone's attention.

"You love me?" Buffy asked is a soft voice, her green eyes almost comically wide and the expression on her face only marginally more surprised than those on the faces of her mother, sister, and watcher who stood slightly behind her in the hotel's enterance. "Y-you're in l-love with me?"

Spike flinched when the Slayer's eyes brimmed with tears. "Oh bullocks."

* * *

A/N #2 – Damn, another cliffie! Please don't flog me! I didn't plan for this chapter to be a cliffhanger, it had a mind of it's own and refused to be anything else! And I don't really know anything about hospital procedure so I apologize if that section wasn't accurate! Please review!!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N - Howdy pals! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. Your feedback was greatly appreciated! Sorry, sorry, sorry this update has taken me so long to post. I suffered a brief bit of writer's block and it took me a couple of days to get passed it. Anywho, I think there will be just one more chappie after this one. It'll be the epilogue, tying up all the loose ends and setting everything to rights. I'm not going to do a whole big Glory faceoff because I'm not good at writing battle scenes, but there will be a resolution to the Glory situation and a surprise ending for Ben! WOW! This story has just completely taken on a life of its own. I never meant for it to be this long, but once I started writing I just couldn't stop! I sincerely hope everyone has enjoyed it and that the wrap up doesn't disappoint. And now, without further ado, on to the chapter!!

P.S. I stole some lines from the show. I don't really use them in the same context or use the exact quotes, but you'll definitely recognize them!

DISCLAIMER: It's not mine, but oh how I wish it was. Don't sue, please!!

The Visitor - Chapter 16

_Previously on "The Visitor"..._

_Spike paused to run a shaky hand through his platinum locks before continuing. "You think I don't realize she deserves so much more than I can give her? No matter how much I want her it doesn't change the fact that I know she's too good for me…too beautiful, too innocent to be forced into the darkness with some monster masquerading as a man, but for some reason I'll never completely understand she wants me too. And I'm too damn selfish and far too in love with her to let her go."_

_It wasn't until he finished his tirade that Spike realized his audience's eyes were focused on something behind him instead of his own tense form. A puzzled frown creased his brow as he turned to see what had captured everyone's attention._

"_You love me?" Buffy asked is a soft voice, her green eyes almost comically wide and the expression on her face only marginally more surprised than those on the faces of her mother, sister, and watcher who stood slightly behind her in the hotel's entrance. "Y-you're in l-love with me?"_

_Spike flinched when the Slayer's eyes brimmed with tears. "Oh bullocks."_

* * *

For the first time in 120 odd years, William the Bloody was utterly speechless. He sputtered for a moment, his mouth falling open but nothing more than a slight gurgling sound escaping from his parted lips. An eternity of seconds passed before he was able to force his vocal chords into action. "Umm...right. I-I mean yes. Yes, I am...in love with you."

The blonde vampire let his shoulders slump and his head fall to his chest when Buffy's sobs only intensified at his admission. Was being the recipient of his love really so unappealing? Was it just something about _him_ that made it impossible for anyone to love him back?

So lost in his mildly self-deprecating thoughts, Spike's supernatural senses failed him and he was caught off-guard when he suddenly found himself with an armful of tearful Slayer. He hadn't even realized that Buffy had moved until she threw herself at him, almost knocking him over. She locked her arms around his neck, her feet barely scraping the floor as she buried her wet face in the soft cotton of his t-shirt and began murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like "stupid vampire."

"You came home a bit too early, pet." Spike joked weakly, finally coming back to himself and wrapping his arms around the tiny woman clinging to him like a growing ivy vine.

Buffy pulled away slightly, careful not his dislodge his hold on her but enough that she could lock gazes with him. "Were you not going to tell me?"

"Uh...Well, you see...I..."

"Hot chocolate, anyone?" Xander, realizing that Spike and Buffy probably didn't need or want an audience for their looming conversation, interjected. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm in the mood for some hot chocolaty goodness. So how 'bout we go on in to the kitchen and let these two crazy kids talk for awhile."

Anya pouted as her boyfriend tugged her towards the exit. "But I don't want any hot chocolate. I want to stay and watch. This is much more interesting than seeing you guzzle four mugs of heated water and cocoa mix."

"They need alone time right now, Ahn." Xander countered simply, pulling her from the room while the others trickled out behind them. Angel lingered for only a second longer before, with a defeated sigh, he bypassed the door to the kitchen and disappeared up the stairs.

"So, were you?" Buffy questioned again once she and Spike were alone.

"Huh?" Spike couldn't seem to get his brain to function, the feel of the petite woman pressed against him obliterating his thought process entirely.

Buffy smiled amusedly at the dazed look on the vampire's face. "You weren't going to tell me that you l-love me?"

"Oh…that." He shifted uncomfortably. "Hadn't planned on it, luv."

She pulled away from him, a pained expression passing quickly through her eyes. "Why not? Do you r-regret saying it? Did you not mean it?"

"NO! No, Buffy. That's not it at all." He reached for her without conscious thought, pulling her back into the circle of his arms. "I meant it. Don't ever doubt that I meant it. I just…I didn't want to scare you."

"Scare me?! Spike, I once killed a monster – while I was delirious with fever, mind you – that looked like Freddy Krueger and sucked the life out of sick children with these little tentacle thingies that popped out of his eye sockets. I'm not exactly easy to frighten."

Spike heaved a deep sigh, trying quickly to marshal his thoughts in order to explain himself. "We haven't even been together a month, pet. I thought if you knew how strongly I felt about you, you'd run off."

"You really thought I'd leave you because you love me? Geez Spike, I know I've not always been so nice to you, but I didn't know you thought I was that big of a bitch."

"No Buffy, that's not…It's…" he sighed again in frustration, releasing his hold on her and running his hands through his dyed locks agitatedly. "I'm a monster, Buffy," he held up a hand to silence her when it appeared she was going to protest his words, "but you treat me like a man. That doesn't make me any less of a monster, though. And I suppose I was afraid if you knew how deeply I really felt, it'd shock you into remembering what I truly am and you'd realize that there is nothing I could ever do to deserve even a crumb of your affection."

Buffy stared at Spike for a long moment, her heart aching at the defeated slump of his shoulders. She wanted nothing more than to pull him into her arms and whisper soft reassurances in his ear…so she surprised even herself when, instead of gently soothing the vampire before her, she not-so-lightly smacked him on the side of the head. "You dope!"

"What!?" He rubbed at the place where she'd hit him, his pale face confused and angry.

"You're a dope! I'm not going to run away because you love me, Spike. And I'm not going to expel you from my life, either. Not only would Dawn and my mother hate me for chasing you away, but I'd hate myself too…and I'd miss you." She paced away from him and turned around so he was unable to read the emotions playing across her face. "You drive me absolutely crazy. Even when I hated you your presence made my stomach go all fluttery. And not a 'oh God, he's gonna kill me' kind of flutter, but more of a 'oh God, he's really hot' flutter. And now…God Spike, just thinking about you not being a here, not being _with me_ hurts; my lungs freeze up and I can't breath and my heart actually physically aches."

"Buffy…" Spike choked, moving swiftly to pull her back against his chest.

"And it does scare me." She continued when she felt him rest his forehead against the nape of her neck. "It's been so long since I've felt this way about anybody…so long since I've loved anyone like this."

Spike's entire body tensed, the arms around Buffy's waist tightening almost to the point of pain before he released an unneeded breath and spun her around to face him. "What did you say?"

"I-I…I," she struggled to form words under the intensity of his clear blue gaze, "I l-love you."

A great dam seemed to break within her as soon as she said the words out loud and she suddenly found that she never wanted to stop saying them. They had been boiling inside of her, itching for release, since the night Dawn discovered the truth of her origin and Buffy had wandered into her baby sister's room after the emotional upheaval of the evening to find Spike – Slayer of Slayers and former forth of the Scourge of Europe – asleep by Dawn's bedside, guarding the youngest Summers' woman as though she was the most precious thing in the world. The feelings that accompanied the words had been there even longer. Much longer than the Slayer cared to admit.

"You love me?" He whispered. Buffy giggled softly, finding the gob smacked look on her vampire's face far too amusing. Too soon the giggles morphed into more sobs and tears once again began streaming down the Slayer's face. "No, no, no," Spike said quickly, thumbing away the drops of clear liquid before they could crest over the tops of her cheeks, "no crying. What's the matter, my darling girl?"

"Don't worry, they're happy tears." She assured with a watery smile. "I've turned into a hose pipe and I don't even care."

"Yeah, that's usually the affect I have on women."

Buffy laughed, the rich sound bubbling through her lips and brightening her already shining eyes. "I'm not so sure that's that good thing, Spikey."

"_Spikey_?" He questioned incredulously. "Is that what you're going to be calling me now?"

"Well, now that we're all with the lovin', I figured I should have an affectionate pet name for you since you're always calling me 'kitten' or 'luv' and things like that."

"Yeah, but…_Spikey_?"

"I guess I could call you Blondie Bear if you'd prefer..."

"On second thought, Spikey is a perfectly suitable pet name and I'm sure I will grow to love it with time." He laced his fingers through her's and pulled her towards him to give her a chaste kiss before resting his forehead on her's. "Besides, doesn't really matter what you call me anyway…you _love_ me."

"Yes," she smiled, squeezing his hands, "I do. And _you _love _me_."

"That I do, pet." He kissed her again before he began pulling her in the direction of the kitchen, intent on getting a cup of Joyce's famous hot chocolate. "I'll love you 'til the end of the world, whether that happens to be tonight, next week, or a thousand years from now."

" 'Til the end of the world, huh?" The Slayer's smile only grew as she glanced at the man beside her. "I definitely think I can handle that."

The End

A/N – AHHHHH!! That's it, the end, there's no more…except for the epilogue I'll be posting in a few days. Anywho, what did you think? Good? Bad? Exceptionally boring? Please, review!!


	18. Chapter 18 The Epilogue

A/N – First, I'm soooooooooo sorry it's taken me so long to update! I truly didn't mean to go this long without posting something. Life (two research papers, three jobs, and a car wreck in which my beloved Taurus was totaled) just got in the way. Please, please, please forgive me? Second, I can't believe this is the epilogue! I'm really, really, really going to miss this story but I'm relieved that it's over at the same time. I haven't decided if I'm going to write a sequel to this – an AU Season 6 – or if I'm going to let this story end here. I've been extremely busy (case in point, it took me FOREVER to post this chappie) and I will remain so for the foreseeable future. I do know that I will be writing one-shots that correspond with "The Visitor." Okay, that's enough junk for now. Please read and review!!!

DISCLAIMER: The BTVS verse has never been nor will it ever be mine. I've just been playing with Joss' toys. Don't Sue!!!

The Visitor – Epilogue

**L.A., The Hyperion Hotel**

The ticking of the clock as time moved slowly towards midnight was the only sound that sliced through the thick tension of the Hyperion's lobby. At a quarter 'til, Buffy leapt from her spot on the arm of Spike's chair and began pacing around the lobby's edge. She lasted a full five more minutes before she exploded.

"It can't be this easy, can it? I mean, it's never been this easy before." She babbled, making a continuous rushed circuit of the room. "Remember Adam? That wasn't easy at all! I had to become Super-Slayer-Buffy, borrowing strength from everyone. And what did we get for our troubles? The first Slayer decides to go all crazy and brutalize us in our sleep. And I'm just saying that…"

"Slayer!" Spike grabbed Buffy's arm as she passed by him, preventing her from completing another round in her restless pacing. "I love you, pet, but I'm going to risk the headache and kill you if you don't quit tryin' to wear a hole through Peaches' floor."

"Well, I'm sorry!" She cried, throwing her hands in the air before allowing herself to be pulled down unto Spike's lap. "Isn't anybody else wigged about how un-apocalypsy this apocalypse is?"

Xander's hand shot up in a good imitation of an over-eager student. "I'm definitely with the wiggens."

"Thank you, Xand." Buffy nodded at her long-time friend. "Glad to know I'm not alone."

"I have to confess," Giles began, compulsively swiping at his glasses, "that I, too, am…uh…a little _wigged_. I thought surely Glory would have made some attempt to find us. It is not as if we went all that far away."

Willow fidgeted nervously, muttering something unintelligible to the humans in the room. The vampires, however, heard her loud and clear.

"You what?" Angel questioned incredulously. "The entire hotel? Without any help?"

"Didn't know you had that kind of power, Red" Spike added, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly at that blushing witch.

"It really wasn't that difficult. And hey, no spell-go-wrong badness happened, right? No explosions, city wide power outages, or enchanted engagements." She chattered quickly.

"Yeah, but…" Spike's blue eyes narrowed further, "how'd you manage the whole hotel? And why didn't you ask Glinda or Rupert to help?"

"I told you, it wasn't exactly hard to do." Willow said, an edge of defensiveness creeping into her voice. "And I didn't need any help. I did fine by myself."

Buffy – when she finally tired of waiting for someone to explain what was going on – stood, arms akimbo and hazel eyes jumping from vampire to vampire to witch. "Hey, you three have something you'd like to share with the rest of the class? 'Cause I gotta say, I'm not liking being out of the loop here."

Spike locked gazes with Willow, refusing to look away until she once again began to fidget and dropped her head. "Red?"

"I did a little spell to make sure no one cold find us so long as we stayed in the hotel."

"You cloaked the hotel? The entire hotel?" Tara repeated Angel's earlier question, gaping disbelievingly at her girlfriend.

"What's the big deal? Glory not being able to find us is a good thing, right?" Xander asked with an uneasy grin, clearly uncomfortable with the way the magically experienced occupants of the room were looking at his oldest friend. "It's definitely not of the bad."

"No, it is not a _bad_ thing, so to say," Giles spoke, "but the way in which Willow went about it was dangerous. A spell of such magnitude could easily have gone wrong and should not have been performed alone, especially considering Willow's past history of back firing spells. One misstep could have put a proverbial target over our heads instead of covering them. I had no idea you even had that sort of power, Willow."

The room was quiet for a moment, everyone lost in their own thoughts until once again Giles made his voice heard. "I owe you an apology Willow. I fear I've neglected your magical training. It is clear that you have great potential to become a very powerful witch. I have a few…erm, _contacts_…"

"More like 'shag-buddies'." Spike snorted under his unneeded breath, earning a smack upside the head from a glaring Slayer.

"…who I believe would be of great assistance to you in learning to hone your abilities." Giles continued, expertly ignoring Spike.

"Contacts?" Tara questioned.

"Witches. From a coven in England. I was planning on spending a few weeks overseas this summer and I'd be glad to have Willow along if she'd care to join me."

"Go to England?" Willow squeaked in excitement. "Of course I'd care to join you."

"Tara," Giles turned to the witch at Willow's side, "you are more than welcome to accompany us if you'd like. I'm sure time at the Coven would be beneficial to the both of you."

"Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't want to impose…"

"Nonsense. It would be no imposition at all."

"I-If you're sure," Tara smiled brightly when Giles positive nod, "then how can I say no?"

"We're going to England!" Willow nearly screeched, eliciting a glare from the two vampires.

"Yes, that's wonderful but could you possibly keep it down for those of us with supernatural hearing, Red?" Spike asked through clenched teeth.

"Sorry." The redhead muttered sheepishly. "Guess I got a little excited."

"Hey," Dawn suddenly called, drawing everyone's attention, "its 12:15. The apocalypse is over!"

Dawn's announcement preceded a moment of stunned silence before everyone began speaking at once. It was Buffy's voice that finally rose clearly above the melee. "That was the most anti-climatic apocalypse ever!"

"At least now it's over." The Watcher soothed his Slayer. "Glory's window of opportunity has passed."

"Does that mean we can go home?" Joyce, who – still tired from her stay in the hospital – had remained relatively quiet for most of the day, asked hopefully.

"Although Glory can no longer use Dawn to open a portal between dimensions, the threat that she will come after Buffy in retaliation for thwarting her plans is still present. However, if we are cautious and vigilant, I see no reason for us not to return to Sunnydale tomorrow morning…"

"Tomorrow night." Buffy interrupted.

"What?"

"We can't leave until tomorrow night. One of our drivers has a bit of a sun allergy, remember?"

"Then tomorrow night it is." Xander asserted. "But for now can we go to bed? I haven't slept good…"

"Well," Willow muttered in an instinctive need to correct improper grammar, "you haven't slept well."

"…since this whole Glory thing started and I'm exhausted." Xander finished as though there had been no interruption.

Several voices sounded agreement and almost as one, the haggard group began to make their way up to their borrowed beds.

"So, this is really it then? The apocalypse has been averted and I didn't even get swallowed by a mama bezoar." Buffy groused as she trudged up the stairs behind Spike.

"Don't worry, pet." He spoke over his shoulder. "There's always next time."

* * *

**Sunnydale**

Ben didn't know how they'd managed it, but somehow the Slayer and her little band of do-gooders had gotten far enough away to prevent the god sharing his body from opening the portal to her hell dimension.

"FUCK!" He swore hotly, kicking at the various twigs and rocks littering the darkened streets of Sunnydale as he made his way through town. It wasn't as though he really _wanted_ Glory to succeed. No reasonable, sane person wanted a load of hell beast released on the world…but he was desperate; tired of living only half a life. Even if the world had been destroyed, at least he'd have finally been free. "Fuck…"

"Oh, what's wrong, little boy? Did your mummy go away and leave you all alone?"

"Who's there?" He called, turning in place to try and pinpoint the direction the ethereal voice had come from.

"You shouldn't be out after dark, you know. All sorts of nasties come out at night."

"Yeah, I know all about nighttime nasties here in…" Ben trailed off mid-sentence when a beautiful, willowy woman with long black hair suddenly appeared before him.

"So that's why you're all pouty, is it?" She swayed slightly, but still managed to lock gazes with the transfixed young man before her. "You've got a mean lady in your head, don't you?"

"How'd you know?" He asked softly, trying and failing to look away from the woman's intense stare.

"The stars told me, of course." She chuckled lightly, trailing one thin arm above her head in a vague gesture towards the glittering heavens above them. "My name's Drusilla. What's yours?"

"Ben…"

"That's a pretty name. Not as pretty as my William, but Miss Edith tells me he's gone. I came looking for him; wanted to tell him that mummy wasn't cross with him anymore, but the sunshine go there first. Nasty little Slayer, took away daddy first and now she's snatched up my dark prince."

"The Slayer? But…how…" Ben tried desperately to regain his bearings, but he was lost in the inky pools that were Drusilla's eyes.

"Don't worry, my sweet. I won't let her get you, too." The vampiress snaked out one pale hand and wrapped it around the back of the effectively subdued man's neck, pulling him impossibly closer. "Just close your eyes and let mummy make it all better."

_Huh,_ he thought as he felt the sharp sting of fangs piercing the soft skin of his throat, _that's weird._ He briefly wondered where his survival instinct was; that fierce need human's had to stay alive. The question slipped away to nothing as he felt the blackness of unconsciousness begin to creep upon his senses. _Guess I get to be free afterall…_

* * *

A/N #2 – So, there it is. What do you think? Good? Bad? Worthy of a flogging? I hope you've all enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Please, read and review.


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